


RWBY: War of Seasons

by Semlix



Series: RWBY: The Saga of Seasons [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2020-03-17 20:59:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 35
Words: 117,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18972745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Semlix/pseuds/Semlix
Summary: A sequel to Order of Seasons.  The next generation has begun to take steps in their own journeys, but old shadows have crept into one of the hearts of light, creating a new threat.





	1. Prelude to War: What has Come Before

_The Order Out in The Open_

_Secret to the World No Longer_

_Broken and Scattered Across Remnant_

_Yet Biding Their Time_

_Moving the Pieces to Their Proper Places_

_Before Knocking Them All Down._

 

**Two Years After the Battle of Vytal**

**The Vacuo Uprising**

 

With the Order of the Four Seasons having been weakened significantly due to the loss of their supreme leader, a large portion of their power began to wither and fade within the Kingdoms of Remnant. One of those places where they used to have a strong hold on was Vacuo. The Kingdom, while able to keep itself together for the most part, was feeling the struggles and issues that came with the Order having been pulled out from under their feet so quickly. As a result, many organizations saw an opportunity to take control of the many resources that Vacuo had to offer. One of those organizations was the Schnee Dust Company. At this point in time, Jaques Schnee was still head of the company, and while he attempted to keep the relationship with his middle daughter Weiss intact after the events of the Battle of Vytal, he constantly had to push her away due to her speaking out and trying to wrest control of the company away from her father. Because of this, Jaques sent his youngest son Whitley to Vacuo to try and claim some of the dust mines and other resources to allow the company to grow further beyond the status of commercial empire that they already had obtained. However, due to these actions, the White Fang purists who still served under Sienna Kahn and not the Order rushed in and began attacking the outposts that the Schnee Dust Company had begun establishing throughout the Kingdom. Along with that, the Kingdom of Vacuo and her citizens were not thrilled about people from outside Kingdoms coming in and establishing rule over them overnight. This triggered a battle between the three different unions. The people and armies of Vacuo, the small private army funded by the Schnee Dust Company, and the army of extremists who served Sienna Kahn in the White Fang.

 

After things began to spiral out of control, the other Kingdoms gave their responses to the situation. Mistral declared that after the events of the Great War so many years ago, they had no desire to invade Vacuo once more, but gave the Huntsmen under their employment permission to help with the Kingdom or army that they aligned with if they were so inclined. The Kingdom of Atlas, while criticizing the actions of the Schnee Dust Company, refused to send its armies to Vacuo due to the fear that they had of potentially ruining their relationship with the company. However, they did send in Atlesian Knights and other soldiers to help the civilians affected because of all the fighting. Along with that, after some successful test results, Atlas allowed Penny Polendina the full rights of a human being and Huntress, and allowed her to do as she pleased. Her first action with her newfound freedom was to fly in large crates of emergency supplies to a village just west of the capital of Vacuo that had been devastated in a battle between the Schnee Dust Company and the Kingdom of Vacuo. Vale was not the biggest fan of the conflict, but Professor Ozpin did voice his support of bringing an end to the violence in Vacuo. He was granted a small army in which to go into Vacuo and try and keep the peace wherever he could, as Vale was an ally of Vacuo in the past.

 

The conflict lasted for around a year, blood being spilt on both sides. At this point in time, both Team RWBY and Team JNPR had graduated early, but had gone their own separate ways. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang joined together following their graduation and traveled around Mistral for a while, helping who they could during the time. Weiss wanted to do something to help stop the conflict that her father had begun, but she also didn’t want to fight against her brother who was stationed in Vacuo. Due to this, she decided to do what she could away from the conflict. Ruby and Yang wished to at least be there to help her through this difficult time. During this period of time in Mistral, Ruby met a young farmhand named Oscar Pine who longed to be a Huntsman, and Ruby invited him to join them on their journeys. While the two of them did develop romantic feelings for each other, it would take a few years before the two of them began dating. Yang did wish to remain in Vale with Nathan until he graduated, but Nathan agreed that Yang needed to be there for Weiss. Blake was not happy with Weiss’ decision to abandon those in need in Vacuo, but understood her situation regarding her family. Following her graduation, Blake set out to help the people and Faunus in Vacuo. She teamed up with her ex-boyfriend Sun Wukong (much to the surprise of Miles) and helped the people of the many outlying villages of Vacuo most affected from the conflict. Miles constantly pled and argued with Professor Ozpin to let him graduate after the first semester instead of waiting for the second semester to end so that he could go out and help Blake, but Professor Ozpin stood firm in not letting Miles graduate earlier than he already was. Ozpin would constantly point out that while Miles and Blake were a very capable duo, his friends in Team NEMN needed him for graduation before anything else. Miles and the rest of Team NEMN would not graduate in time to play any form of role in the Vacuo Uprising.

 

The conflict was starting to stagnate after a year had passed with no clear victor in sight, but then something happened that rapidly ended the conflict. Since Vacuo was mostly desert and sand, most people thought that their natural resources were only able to be found deep beneath the ground, but then Whitley Schnee got an idea. Going against his father’s orders to try and claim the capital of Vacuo and finally bring the Kingdom of Vacuo to its knees, he instead went to the location of the former great Oasis, where it was said to have once been a paradise. Most people had written off that place due to the fact that it seemed more than likely that all that was able to be found there was nothing since it had been stripped for resources long before the Great War. However, Whitley had his men dig up the ground and discovered that in fact, due to the lack of certain technological advancements at the time of its discovery, while the Oasis on the surface was near dead, the resources were still thriving deep beneath the ground. Whitley attempted to keep this under wraps, but word got out. First, the White Fang got wind of this. Then the Kingdom of Vacuo. All three unions meet at the location of the Oasis for a grand battle to determine who would have control over the Oasis. The battle began and lasted for five days. After the first day, word of this battle reached the other three Kingdoms, and they immediately deployed their forces to stand behind Vacuo. Mistral wanted to atone for their mistakes, Atlas had had enough of the excursions of the Schnee Dust Company, and Vale recognized this as a good opportunity to do some serious damage to the White Fang. The battle was joined, and it was clear that the Schnee Dust Company and the White Fang were no match for the combined strength of four Kingdoms. While the Schnee Dust Company was willing to surrender and negotiate a peaceful resolution, Sienna Kahn had other plans.

 

Jaques Schnee reached out to General Ironwood and the leaders of the rest of the armies and requested a cease-fire to discuss an alliance to remove the White Fang from the table and then he was willing to remove his forces from the fray in order to leave the Oasis to Vacuo so they could rebuild their economy. Nobody knew why Jaques had this change of heart. Some say it was because he saw a situation he couldn’t win and decided to leave with what he still had. Others whisper it was because his eldest daughter, Winter Schnee, had gone back home to reprimand her father for his actions over the last year, and that he was allowing Whitley to become a monster. Nobody knows for sure, but whatever the reason, it was almost all for naught. For word of the cease-fire reached the ears of Sienna Kahn, and she decided to enact a gamble to try and see if she could win the day. During the dead of night, the White Fang launched an all out attack against the Schnee Dust Company army base. Sienna’s plan was to try and take out the Schnee Company army and gain access to large amounts of dust, weapons and explosives. With that, she planned to threaten the absolute destruction of the Oasis unless the four Kingdoms declared the site of the Oasis to be a separate state for the White Fang and the Faunus to live in. However, the night she launched her attack, when her soldiers arrived, their enemies were waiting for them. No one knows who blew the whistle on Sienna’s attack. What people do know, is that because of this, many White Fang members lost their lives. Sienna and a few of her most loyal followers managed to escape in the confusion, but by the dawn of the final day of battle, it was clear to the members of the White Fang who followed Sienna that she was not the person they wanted to follow.

 

Those who survived the battle were either captured or escaped. Along with that, there was a substantial drop in numbers of the Faunus who followed Sienna Kahn and the White Fang. Some fled to Menagerie to try and live the rest of their lives in hiding. Others turned themselves in and served time in order to rejoin society. But most turned away from Sienna and found a new purpose in serving the Order of Seasons, who while still in hiding, realized they needed numbers to regain their power. Also, the former members of the White Fang needed a new banner to serve under. After the battle ended, the Schnee Dust Company agreed to leave the Oasis to Vacuo in order to help them build a more sustainable economy. This greatly angered Whitley Schnee, but he obeyed his father’s order and returned to Atlas. The other three Kingdoms agreed to send scientists and geological surveyors to help Vacuo make the Oasis as grand and wonderful as it once was. This soon became known as the Oasis Restoration Project. And within a year and a half, the Oasis flourished again.

 

**The Paths Following Graduation**

**After the Battle of Vytal-The Atlesian Revolution**

 

_Case of Natalie Grover_

 

Following her graduation from Beacon, Natalie decided to join Ruby, Oscar, Weiss, and Yang on their journey of helping those who needed it most. Nathan joined her on their journey for a while, but they had to leave when Yang became pregnant with their first child. After their departure, the four of them continued to help those wherever they could. Unlike most of her peers, Natalie didn’t end up continuing to date or go on to marry her boyfriend during her time at school. She had a few relationships now and again, but didn’t meet her husband until many years later. Her primary focus was being a Huntress, and much like Ruby, it ate up a large part of her time. However, when Ruby and Oscar decided to start a relationship, she was at first a bit surprised and upset as she thought it would put a damper on their friendship, but she grew to accept this new addition in her life. In fact, it made it easier for to find a man that she was willing to spend the rest of her life with years down the road. But she and her boyfriend didn’t get married until after the Atlesian revolution.

 

_Case of Evan Hahn_

 

In the last few years of their time at Beacon, Evan and Christy decided to end their relationship. While it was hard for the both of them and made many interactions between Team NEMN and Team JCTB very awkward for a time, the two of them made an effort to try and keep a friendship alive despite the fact that the two of them had decided that it would indeed be best for them to no longer be romantically involved. Following graduation, in an effort to truly discover himself, Evan roamed the world of Remnant as a nomadic Huntsman for hire. He would take work wherever he could find it, but never at the cost of another person’s life or for a cause he did not stand for. He spent much of his life like this. Sometimes he would come across his old friends and teammates, but always parted ways when the job was done. But be it either by the hand of destiny or by pure luck, Evan was guided to the proper place in order to take part in the Atlesian Revolution when the time arrived.

 

_Case of Miles Watson_

 

Following his graduation, the Vacuo uprising was over, and Miles was unable to help Blake during that event. Discouraged, but not defeated, he sought to figure out the best way in which he could help people around the world. Blake reached out to him and told him that despite the conflict being over, there was still work to be done in helping Vacuo reach a state of stability. Between helping refugees from the conflict and fighting off hordes of Grimm, Miles was busy for much of the time that he spent in Vacuo. After spending about a year in Vacuo helping Blake and Sun, Professor Ozpin approached Blake and Sun with information about the creation of a fifth Cross Continental Transmit System Tower to be built in Menagerie. While Blake was excited about the opportunity, Sun was a bit hesitant, as he wished to remain in his home Kingdom and help rebuild there. Miles stepped up and accepted the position to help Blake and the people of Menagerie build the new CCTS Tower. During this time, Miles finally got a chance to meet Blake’s parents, Ghira and Kali. While they were hesitant at first about Blake’s boyfriend not being a Faunus, in time they opened up to Miles. Miles and Ghira spent a good chunk of time working together on building the new CCTS Tower together while Kali and Blake helped as well, along with working closely with the leaders of the world to finalize information about what the tower could bring to the people of Menagerie. But when word reached Miles and Blake about the Atlesian Revolution, They quickly dropped everything and rushed to the aid of their friend.

 

_Case of Nathan Grover_

 

Following graduation from Beacon, Nathan and Yang were rather quick to tie the knot as a couple. While their rush into marriage was a quick one, some would argue that their desire to spend their honeymoon fighting Creatures of Grimm and bandits was far quicker. For a few months following their marriage, Nathan and Yang joined Natalie, Weiss, Ruby, and Oscar on their journey across the world. But they quickly pulled out following the discovery of Yang’s pregnancy with her and Nathan’s first child. This prompted Nathan to call in a few favors from Professor Ozpin to get them a house within the Kingdom of Vale. While Ozpin was unable to pull that many strings as he was busy dealing with the Oasis Restoration movement as well as running Beacon, Taiyang did come through and help Nathan and Yang build a new home on the small island of Patch. The house was finished in time for the birth of their daughter Ember Raven Grover/Xiao Long. The two of them agreed that if Ember was to enroll at one of the academies, either one of her last names would be more than enough to grant her a full ride scholarship. The two of them traded off doing missions as hunters and staying at home to help raise Ember. More often than not, they were able to stay at home together and help raise her, but when word of the Atlesian Revolution reached their doorstep, they dropped off Ember at Taiyang’s house and made their way to Atlas posthaste.

 

_Case of Jacob Strohl_

 

After everything that Jacob had gone through with his family during the Battle of Beacon and the events leading up to it, he decided that following graduation he would take some time to see the world and figure things out for himself. After a few years on his own out in the world, he discovered an enjoyment of traveling around and helping people wherever he could. He registered with the Huntsman’s Alliance, an organization that provides missions on a global scale as opposed to traveling to different kingdoms and checking mission boards for what was available. After spending some time wandering around and not interacting with many of his teammates and old friends for some time, he did come across some of his old friends right before the Atlesian Revolution.

 

_Case of Christy Curtiss_

 

Unlike her colleagues, Christy decided to remain at Beacon following her graduation. She had taken great interest in the world of teaching and decided that she wanted to further pursue that dream. She initially worked for Professor Oobleck as a teacher’s aide, then was given an opportunity to work as a battle and tactics advisor with promise of a potential teaching job in the future. Over the course of a few years, she found a place working with the staff at Beacon academy. A few years later, she was offered the job of being the professor of stealth tactics at Beacon as well as the registered nurse due to her healing abilities. As a result, she doubled down and studied medicine and human anatomy in the evenings while also teaching stealth tactics. But when the Atlesian Revolution began, Professor Ozpin called upon his most trusted staff members and students to help with the growing conflict in the Kingdom of Atlas.

 

_Case of Ty Boyer_

 

Following graduation, Ty was still dealing with the emotions that came with the loss of his father at the hands of the Order of the Four Seasons. He dabbled with the idea of revenge and seeking out and destroying the Order, but he instead decided that he wanted to focus his efforts elsewhere. He joined the Huntsman Alliance on his own accord, but didn’t realize Jacob had joined until years later. When he did, he approached his friend and proposed that they team up to help people in need. Jacob agreed, but then they were approached by one other that would change the dynamic of the team.

 

_Case of Brooklyn McPhearson_

 

After graduation, Brooklyn was looking for answers. Anything that could give her a clue about the tragic history of her family. But when none appeared, she found herself stuck in a rut. She spent a lot of time aimlessly roaming the kingdoms trying to find her purpose. She almost joined a group of bandits she was so lost. But fate had other plans when she walked into an outpost that was owned by the Huntsman Alliance and two of her old friends were sitting there talking. She approached them and asked if she could join them on their journey, which of course they agreed to. The three of them then began to work around the world of Remnant helping whoever they could up until the news of the Atlesian Revolution reached their ears.

 

**Five Years after the Battle of Vytal**

**The Atlesian Revolution**

 

Anger had been boiling in the heart of Whitley Schnee after his father decided that the best course of action in Vacuo was to just simply give up and let the Oasis Restoration movement take place. Whenever Whitley went to talk to his father about it, it would always go the same way. Whitley would yell and scream at his father for being a failure and not letting the Schnee Dust Company grow beyond what it already was and that he was weak. Jaques would always reply with the fact that if he continued to push in Vacuo, they would have lost everything and that they shouldn’t push their boundaries after everything they had done over the last few decades. This went on for a few years, but then Whitley finally snapped one night. No one knows for sure why he snapped the way he did, but all that people know is that Atlas became a war zone overnight. Whitley had killed his father and hacked into the Atlesian military and had declared that he was going to take over the world. Most people thought that this would end in a day, given the fact that there were kill commands placed into the machines that Whitley was using, but somehow, the kill codes had been deleted and Whitley began devastating the capital of Atlas. The kingdoms quickly started mobilizing their troops once Atlesian warships began leaving the boarders of Atlas with intentions of invasion. These airships were stopped and the carnage was kept within the borders of Atlas. The four teams that took part in the Battle of Vytal all reunited in Atlas to fight against Weiss’ now insane younger brother. There was a scramble over who should lead the assault due to the fact that each of the generals of the Kingdoms had different strategies they thought would work, but Weiss took charge and decreed that she would face her brother and his madness. Her friends stood behind her and the battle was joined.

 

The entire event only lasted around a week. The initial bloodshed, the mobilization of troops, two days of no confrontation while strategy was formed, and then three days for the true battle of the Atlesian Revolution. The first day of battle was a fight for control of the major buildings that surrounded the Schnee Dust Company headquarters. First, the Academy was re-taken and those who were still trapped there were freed and flown out of the country to receive help if they needed it. Those who could and were willing to fight stayed to help. Another one of the buildings that was captured was the weapons development building. That mission was a squad lead by Natalie alongside her old teammates from Team NEMN and a few members of Team RWBY, specifically Blake and Ruby. During that mission, Blake received a critical wound and was almost killed, but Miles managed to save her at the last second. Because of this, Blake was sent out on a medical airship with Miles right behind her. Weiss pleaded with Miles to stay but he stood firm and remained by Blake’s side.

 

The second day began and that battle was to establish control over the headquarters, where Whitley was pulling the strings. During that day, the team lead by Team JNPR and JCTB managed to take back the computer room that was controlling all the robotic soldiers. Once the machines were de-activated, the final battle with Whitley was on the horizon. Weiss lead the charge into the master study where Whitley was hiding, but when she stepped inside, Whitley activated a personal force field that kept everybody else out. Weiss was all alone to face Whitley. The security cameras were still on, so footage of the battle did reach the higher ups of the four Kingdoms. Whitley used his abilities as a dust mage to try and kill his sister. Weiss did everything in her power to try and capture her brother. But nothing she could do could stop him. Even when she tried freezing him in a large block of ice, he would use fire dust to free himself. With every option exhausted, Weiss used her rush attack to lower her brother’s aura, and then run him through. With his death, the force field deactivated, and the soldiers were able to enter and see Weiss holding her dead brother in her arms. Many would say afterwards that this cleared the way for positive change in the Schnee Dust Company, but Weiss would tell you that she wishes for a different result every single day.

 

**The Paths Following Revolution**

**The Atlesian Revolution-The Initiation of the Next Generation**

 

_Case of Ruby Rose_

 

Following the events of the Atlesian Revolution and seeing what had happened to Blake, Ruby decided that she wanted to take some time off from working in the field of a huntress. She stayed with Nathan and Yang for a short period of time while figuring things out. After a few months, she went out and found Oscar and the two of them decided that they wanted to work together to help the people of Remnant. While they did get married, they had no desire to have children of their own. As a result, they never really settled down and had a home. They just roamed the world and helped those in need whenever they needed it. But when Natalie called in a favor from Ruby to help her with the process of adopting children of her own, Ruby didn’t hesitate to help out her friend with this request.

 

_Case of Weiss Schnee_

 

Following the Atlesian Revolution, there was turmoil over who would take over the Schnee Dust Company. Most people looked to Winter Schnee due to her being the oldest, but she had no desire to take over the company. When this news broke, other people stepped up desiring to take over the coveted positon. Some tried to buy the company outright from Weiss and Winter, others tried to court one of them so that they could take over the company in their stead. One person however named Stuli Arium tried to simply take over the company with supposed claims that he was a long lost relative of the Schnee family name. However, Weiss stepped up and declared that she would take over running the company. Nobody really argued with this due to the fact that Weiss was indeed of the family name and heritage, and it was a far easier solution than anything else being put forward. She ended up marrying her childhood sweetheart Neptune Vasilias and ran the company. She did end up having two children, but it wasn’t until after Team’s BEAT and GASH were formed.

 

_Case of Blake Belladonna_

 

Blake was flown back to Menagerie for recovery from her injury. She was surprised to see Miles there beside her instead of helping with the fight back in Atlas. She chastised him for abandoning the fight, but he argued back that he needed to be there for the ones he cared about. Blake wanted to argue more but let it drop. After a few days, Miles brought her to the top of the almost complete CCT tower in Menagerie. As the sun rose, Miles proposed to Blake, citing that he didn’t want to wait any longer after the scare they had back in Atlas. Blake happily agreed and the two got married not long after that. Despite getting married so soon after the Atlesian Revolution, they both decided that they wanted to still help where they could before having children, but it was on their minds. After five years, they gave birth to their first child, a girl they named Aurora. Both Miles and Blake were still working in helping the four Kingdoms in whatever way they could, so they got an apartment in Vale to live in while visiting there, but also kept a home on Menagerie for Aurora to grow up in. They then had a second child, a son they named Daniel after an old relative of Miles’. Aurora grew up wishing to be a huntress while Daniel wished to be a film maker, which gave Blake many happy memories watching the two of them grow up. And when it came time for Aurora to start school, Blake and Miles sold their apartment, wanting their daughter to be able to take care of herself without having her parents to fall back on, resulting in Miles and Blake moving back to Menagerie to stay.

 

_Case of Yang Xiao Long_

 

After the Atlesian Revolution and witnessing what had happened between Weiss and Whitley, Yang and Nathan decided that they were going to take some time off to be there for their child. For the next three years, the sole mission that Yang and Nathan had was raising Ember. They enjoyed every second of it, but Yang sensed that something was off with Nathan. He seemed out of sorts, so she looked up a therapist in Vale that Nathan could start visiting. During that time, Yang noticed an uptick in Nathan’s mental health. He even started taking the initiative to train young Ember in forms of combat once she became of age. However, once Ember had graduated from Beacon Academy and their second child, Grey, was beginning his entry exams, Yang noticed something was changing within Nathan. She didn’t know what it was, but she did everything she could to remain loving and supportive of her husband. Case of Jaune and Pyrrha Prior to the Atlesian Revolution, both Jaune and Pyrrha had gotten married and had a few kids already. After the Atlesian Revolution though, Pyrrha was offered a job as the headmistress of Haven Academy due to her stellar record in the field. She accepted the job and had Jaune be her assistant in running the school. During that time, Evan Hahn approached Pyrrha and said that he was interested in stepping out of his nomadic lifestyle and entering the world of teaching. Pyrrha agreed to let Evan get this job at Haven, but after a few years, she suggested he transfer to Beacon. While reluctant at first, Evan agreed and accepted a full time job teaching at Beacon Academy. Pyrrha felt that she made the right decision, despite the numerous texts from Christy saying that it probably wasn’t the best idea in the world at first. Case of Ren and Nora After graduation, the two of them got married and returned to their home continent of Anima, and decided that they wanted to create a new village where their childhood home used to be. Rebuilding was a challenge, but with the help of their old friends Ty, Jacob and Brooklyn, they managed to pull it off and the town of Saisei truly flourished under their guidance.

 

_Time passes and introduces new angles in life._

_No one knows for certain what the future holds._

_But to understand what leads further to the future,_

_We must look within the cracks_

_A_ _nd see where everything began to change_

_At a Point Where it Tips._


	2. Prelude to War: A Point Where it Tips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the events that played into the events of the coming War of Seasons.

_The Uprising has been Quelled._

_The World still Shakes._

_But Today is a Celebration_

_And Acknowledgment of Accomplishment._

 

 

 

**Two Months after the Vacuo Uprising  
Graduation Day for Team NEMN and Team JCTB**

 

 

 

“….Miles Watson.  Scarlet Whitehall.  Coral Windinaur.”  Professor Ozpin continued to read off the names of the students graduating from Beacon Academy.  Miles walked across the stage to receive his diploma and official Huntsman certification from Professor Port.  He then proceeded to sit back down with the rest of his teammates.  He was excited to graduate.  After Professor Ozpin told him that he couldn’t graduate early to help Blake out in Vacuo during the uprising, he had been counting down the seconds until he could graduate.  As the last people walked across the stage, Professor Ozpin cleared his throat and said a few words.

            “In my many, many, many years of teaching, I have seen many students come through this academy.  Some were your own parents.  And their parents before them and so on and so forth.”  The audience chuckled at this, given the fact that Professor Ozpin’s immortality was now common knowledge amongst the four kingdoms.  
            “But none of those students had to face the trials that the students here today had to deal with.  Some of you were part of the great battle with Cinder Fall before you were even students here.  Most of you were students during the attack by the Order of the Four Seasons.  And each and every one of you here stood your ground and fought against a darkness never before seen in this world.  I cannot thank you all enough for your courage and sacrifice to help protect this world.”  Professor Ozpin then stepped away from the microphone and quickly bowed with his hand covering his fist, the salute of the warrior.  The students stood up and returned the salute as Ozpin returned to the podium.

            “If it were up to me, I would have named all who took part in that conflict Huntsmen and Huntresses on the spot.  But it was essential for you students to keep learning what you could while you were in school.  And I thank you for your commitment to your education.  But with that said, you are now heading out into the real world.  A place that won’t care who you’ve defeated once you are face to face with an enemy.”  Natalie leaned over and whispered into Miles’ ear.  
            “I don’t know.  Pretty sure dying and coming back to life trumps just about anything the world could throw at me.”  The two snickered while Professor Ozpin continued to speak.

            “That being said, you have faced many dangers, and know how to defend yourselves and others.  For that, I congratulate you, graduates of Beacon Academy!”  As Ozpin finished his statement, a cheer went up within the crowd as everybody tossed their caps in the air.

 

 

As the crowd of graduates slowly made their way out of the auditorium, Miles kept walking out towards the airship docks, smiling as he held his diploma tightly in his hand.  Looking out over the sunset, he felt a hand placed on his shoulder.  
            “So, still think you have no honor?” Miles turned to see Blake standing there beside him, grinning from ear to ear.  Miles smiled and turned to face Blake.  
            “You proved me wrong.  You win.” The two of them laughed then shared a quick kiss.  Miles then hugged her tightly.

            “Thank you Blake.  You saved me.”  Blake smiled and hugged Miles in return.

            “I’m happy I could help.”  The two of them stayed like that for a few more moments before sitting down on the edge of the docks and continued to watch the sun set.

            “I’m surprised you managed to make it out here.” Miles said as he unzipped his graduation gown to cool off.  “Last time we talked you said that you and Sun were super busy day in and day out with helping Vacuo.”  
            “We are.” Blake said pulling out a water bottle and handing it to Miles, noticing that he seemed thirsty.  “But Sun insisted that I be here today.”  
            “Really?” Miles took a drink from the water bottle as he wondered. “I’m surprised.  Sun doesn’t really seem like that kind of guy.”  
            “He has his moments.  Plus, I also wanted to offer you a chance to come out and join us.”

            “Is it really that bad out in Vacuo?  I mean I know first hand how bad Vacuo is normally, but this seems a bit extreme.”

            “Well what happened was a bit extreme.”  Blake grasped her knees tightly, clearly distressed.  “You weren’t there.  It got really bad.”  Miles felt terrible.  He placed his hand on Blake’s shoulder.

            “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it out there sooner.  I promise I’ll head out after the wedding.”  
            “Oh yeah.  I forgot that Nathan and Yang were doing that.  When’s the ceremony again?”

            “In three days.  Nathan wanted to give people time to calm down after graduation.  It took just about every ounce of energy from everybody to convince him and Yang to not barge into Professor Ozpin’s office and demand that the wedding also take place during graduation today.”  The two of them laughed, but Miles’ smile quickly faded.  
            “What’s wrong?” Blake asked leaning over.  “Aren’t you happy for them?”  
            “I am.  It’s just that…..” Miles fell silent for a second.  “Never mind.  I’ll deal with it.  For now, let’s find everybody else.  I’m sure they’re looking for me.”  Miles stood up and helped Blake stand up too.  They smiled, took each other’s hand and walked back towards the crowd of happy graduates.

 

 

**Two Days Later**

**Nathan’s Bachelor Party/Yang’s Bachelorette Party**

 

 

 

Junior’s club was popping with music and dance. Everybody there was having a great time. Nathan and Yang decided that they wanted their party together so that they could have all their friends together in one place.  Junior was not exactly open to having that kind of part at his club, but in Nathan’s words, Yang “made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”  As the night went on, Miles was sitting at the bar watching everybody have a good time.  Blake was catching up with Ruby, while Yang and Nathan were dancing together. Natalie and Pyrrha were catching up while Jacob, Ty and Evan were chatting it up with Ren and Nora. Christy was going over last minute wedding preparations with Jaune and Weiss off to the side away from all the craziness.  Miles was happy to see everybody together again as he took another sip of his soda. He then noticed Nathan walking over to the bar to get a drink.  As Nathan sat down, he ordered a drink and put a hand on Miles’ shoulder.  
            “Hey Miles!”  Nathan said excitedly.  “Why aren’t you dancing with your girlfriend out there?!  Come on!  This is supposed to be a fun night!”  
            “I know man.  I know. It’s just that Blake wanted to catch up with everybody and we both don’t really care about dancing.”  
            “Suit yourself.” Nathan said taking a quick drink.  “I’m going back out to the dance floor.”  As Nathan stood back up, Miles grabbed his arm.  
            “Actually, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

            “Sure thing.” Nathan said sitting back down.  “What’s up?”  
            “Could we go somewhere more private?”  Nathan looked at Miles weird, but shrugged his shoulders, grabbed his drink and started walking towards the back door.  
            “You coming?”  Nathan joked. Miles smiled and walked out with Nathan.

 

            The cool air felt refreshing compared to the stuffy club.  Nathan leaned up against the wall and took another sip of his drink.

            “So what did you want to talk to me about?  I told you, the fireworks and motorcycle is what Yang and I want for our exit when we leave to go on our honeymoon!”  
            “That’s not it Nathan.  At least, not exactly.”  Nathan looked at Miles, slightly confused.  
            “What’s wrong man?”  Miles looked at Nathan with a concerned look in his eye.

            “Are you sure you and Yang aren’t moving too fast?”  Nathan looked at Miles, extremely shocked.

            “What are you talking about?” Nathan asked jokingly.  “I mean, we started dating not long after school started so I don’t think a wedding right after school ended is out of the question. Heck, I think Yang might even be pregnant with our first kid!  How awesome is that!”  
            “Wait, what?  Yang might be pregnant already?!”  Miles took a step towards Nathan as he said this.  
            “Yeah.  I guess that’s what happens when your fiancée isn’t exactly open to using protection.”  
            “Nathan, this is serious!  You might be moving too fast!  You just graduated from school!  You’re getting married tomorrow!  And you might be having a kid before you even have your first job!  Are you crazy?!”  
            “Relax man!” Nathan said, trying to keep the light tone, but becoming more and more upset.  “Between what Ozpin promised he’d give us for killing the heads of the Order and doing normal everyday jobs for the four kingdoms, we’ll be just fine!”  
            “That doesn’t excuse the fact that you two are potentially putting yourselves in a really bad situation!  What if the council decides to cut the money that Ozpin would give you?  What if your child needs more support from both you and Yang than you prepared for?  Where will you guys live?  What about…..”  
            “Dude!” Nathan yelled at Miles angrily.  “What’s with you?  I thought you’d be happy for me and Yang!”  
            “I want you to be happy!  But I’m nervous that you guys are going to run into a situation that you aren’t ready for and end up miserable!”  
            “So you don’t support us, is that it?  You don’t care about me and Yang at all?!”  
            “I just said I want the two of you to be happy you jackwagon!  But I also don’t want you both to make a mistake and have it ruin your happiness!”  
            “What do you care?  Besides, if we have a kid, that kid will be the happiest kid on the face of the planet! Who cares if we have a kid within a year?  All that matters…..”  
            “My parents had me before they got married!” Miles yelled at the top of his lungs.  “And because of that, they always seemed sad!  My birth was such a burden on their lives!  I know they loved me, but I always felt like I was such a problem! If you’re going to have a kid, I don’t want that child to be a burden on your lives nor do I want that child to think poorly of you because you were stressed out!”  Nathan punched the wall in anger.

            “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”  he yelled at the top of his lungs.  “I thought you supported me and Yang!  I thought you were our friend!”  
            “I am your friend!” Miles yelled back.  “And it’s because I’m your friend that I am telling you that there could be consequences to your actions!”  
            “So you don’t support me and Yang then?  Or this child of ours for that matter?”  
            “I never said that!  I just think that…..”  
            “NO” Nathan yelled and started storming back inside.  “If you don’t support me and Yang, then you can stay out of my life for all I care!”  
            “Wait, what?”  Before Miles had time to process what had happened Nathan had already returned inside leaving Mile to just stand outside confused as to what just happened.  
            “What the heck is wrong with him?”  Miles ran his fingers through his hair while contemplating everything.  A few minutes later, Natalie walked outside and saw Miles sitting by the door.  
            “Hey there you are!  Blake’s been looking for you.”  Natalie was about to head back inside but then noticed Miles wasn’t moving. “What’s wrong?”  she asked sitting down next to him.  
            “Has Nathan told you about the fact that he and Yang might be having a kid?”  
            “Yeah, he told me the other day.  And I assume he just told you?”  
            “Yep.  And I am not the biggest fan of it.”  
            “Why’s that?  Aren’t you happy for them?”  
            “Partially yes, but mostly no.  I feel like they’re moving too fast.  I feel like marriage is one thing, but having a kid so soon could be something that really stresses them out.  I just don’t want them to be struggling like my parents were.  Problem is your brother interpreted it as I don’t support him and Yang with complete and utter blind loyalty so he told me to stay out of his life.” Natalie sighed after hearing that explanation and leaned back on the wall.  
            “Look, I know things are going pretty quickly.  And I will admit, this does raise some questions about what the future holds for Nathan, but it does make sense to me why he is so open to the idea of having a kid so soon.”  
            “How do you figure?”  
            “Well, ever since we lost our family back in Aequo, Nathan’s always seemed like he needed something to keep himself together.  And for a while, that was our family and Ember.  But after almost losing all of that, he hasn’t really had somebody like that until Yang came along, and I feel like with this child on the way, that will be something else for him to hold on to.  So while I do agree with you there might be issues in this whole journey and that he shouldn’t have snapped at you, I still think this might be the best thing for Nathan going forward.”  Miles contemplated this for a second, stood up and opened the door to head back inside.  
            “I’m still not on board with the idea, but I do think I should try to apologize to him.”  
            “Why?  You didn’t really do anything wrong?”  
            “Probably not.  But still, for the sake of keeping this friendship alive, I will take steps forward to try and keep it that way.  Even if it isn’t my fault.”  Miles then headed back inside leaving Natalie alone.  She stood up and opened the door to re-enter the club.  
            “I hope you both know what you’re doing.”  
  


 

_Apologies are Given and Accepted  
A Bond Between Two In Love is Celebrated_

_On the Surface, Things Look Normal_

_But a Rift Has Been Born_

_Will it Hold Itself Together?  
Or Will it Rip Along the Passage of Time?_


	3. Prelude to War: Team Beat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events that lead the members of Team BEAT to the coming War of Seasons.

_The Firstborns of the Previous Generation_

_Some You Recognize_

_Others Have Stories_

_Hidden in Time_

_Now Brought to Light_

_Case of Bovia Brown_

Bovia Brown was born to a common family on the island of Menagerie.  Both her parents were cow Faunus, her mother having a tail and her father sporting a pair of horns which Bovia inherited.  Her parents say that a few months after her birth, the construction of the fifth CCTS Tower had begun with the Belladonna’s leading the way.  They always told Bovia that she was going to be the first child in a new era of the acceptance of Faunus in the world of Remnant.  Bovia didn’t care all that much, she was just content with growing up on the island with her family and friends.  As she grew up, she always seemed amazed by the exploits and adventures of Huntsmen and Huntresses as relayed to her by stories told by some of her neighbors and family members.  On some occasions, she actually got to see some of those heroes in action. The one memory that always stuck out in her mind was not the worst Grimm attack that Menagerie had ever seen, but it was the one that struck close to Bovia and her family.  When she was around the age of seven years old, her house was one of the first in the way of a horde of Beowolfs coming from the desert. She and her family were running for their lives from the monsters.  Bovia was being carried by her father at the time, and as a result, she was able to look back over his shoulder and see the heroics of the Belladonna family and the other Huntsmen and Huntresses that were stationed in Menagerie who faced the monsters with no fear whatsoever.  This inspired Bovia to start training at the newly opened combat school on Menagerie when she came of age.  She never was the most powerful student at the academy.  She constantly struggled with learning how to properly use weapons. She also hadn’t even managed to unlock her semblance yet.  But under the guidance of Ilia Amitola, she managed to learn proper combat technique. Ilia even helped Bovia discover her primary weapon, a Kusarigama.  It was an interesting weapon choice to say the least, but Bovia made it work.  The sickle could also transform into a pistol as most weapons in Remnant do, the hilt held different dust crystals, and the weight at the end of the chain could be used as a bludgeoning weapon or as a tool for sending out waves of dust energy at enemies.  However, Bovia’s semblance was not discovered as easily as her weapon of choice was. 

During one of her missions at combat school, Bovia was accidentaly stranded in the desert along with a few of her classmates.  It was originally meant to be a simple exercise where the students would fly an airship out over the wasteland deserts of Menagerie to get an understanding of how to properly fly an airship.  But without warning, a giant Nevermore swooped out of the sky and crashed the airship into the ground.  The airship was too far away from the developed area of Menagerie for the students to try and walk back, and during the crash, they got turned around.  Along with that, the fact that they had to fight a Nevermore to make sure they weren’t eaten after just barely surviving the crash wasn’t bad enough.  As the day went on, the heat started getting to the students.  They didn’t have any water, so it seemed like their only hope was that the rescue teams would find them before time ran out.  But Bovia wasn’t willing to wait that long. Completely by accident, Bovia, in a bit of a daze, cupped her hands as if they were filled with water so that she could have a drink.  It almost sent her into shock when cold water actually reached her lips and helped deal with her dry throat.  Immediately, she replicated the process and shared whatever water she seemed to create out of thin air for her classmates.  However, as she continued to do this, the more water she created, after some time her arms started to dry up a lot faster.  Fortunately, the rescue team managed to find them before it became a more concerning issue. 

After returning to Menagerie, Bovia began to experiment with her newfound Semblance even further.  She figured out that she was able to create water out of her personal aura.  And once her aura was gone, she was using the moisture and water within her own body to create the water.  She also discovered that in situations where her body is wet from rain or baths, she actually regenerates aura.  This led her to think of several different tactics that she could use in battle and in the field with this ability.  And she decided that she would hone those skills at Beacon Academy, where the prestigious Blake Belladonna had gone to school.  While there were talks of possibly opening up a fifth Huntsman Academy on Menagerie, Bovia had heard reports that Ghira Belladonna was against the idea due to the fact that Menagerie was already running out of space unless they decided to try and terraform the desert beyond the city. Alongside that, Bovia wanted to see the world with her own eyes.  That lead her to meet some people who would change her life forever.

 

 

 

_Case of Ember Grover/Xiao Long_

Ember was born almost two years after Nathan and Yang got married.  Her mother told her that they initially thought she was going to be born nine months after they got married, but that turned out to be a false alarm.  Ember grew up in a very good home on the island of Patch.  She was able to enjoy the company of both her parents as she grew up, and two of the greatest heroes in Remnant to teach her how to fight. She always knew that she was going to be a huntress one day.  While she didn’t always believe in her own skills, she kept moving forward to try and be the best that she could be.  As she grew up, she got to see the best of both her parents and the love they had for one another.  It seemed genuine.  By the time she was almost eight, she had discovered her semblance, so that’s when her training began in earnest.  She was amazed by both her parents weapons, so she crafted a pair of tonfas that could fire projectiles like her mother’s gauntlets as well as be good bludgeoning weapons like her fathers.  She decided to attend Signal Academy alongside her cousin Arri.  They both were top of the class and received honors before heading to Beacon Academy.  While many suggested that she possibly go to a different academy to see the world and broaden her horizons, Ember argued that she already has broadened her horizons by going to visit her parents old friends all over the globe.  Plus, she wanted to go to the school where her parents first met and discover the history behind it all.

 

 

 

_Case of Arri Grover_

            Arri never knew her real parents.  All that the matron would tell her was that she was left on the steps of the orphanage with tree leaves wrapped around her basket.  She grew up in the orphanage making friends with all the kids there.  She was extremely popular due to the fact that she could make plants grow and do what she wanted them to.  Along with that, she always had the brightest smile out of anybody there.  Despite the fact that she never got adopted for such a long time, she always smiled.  Whenever a child was upset when they didn’t get adopted, Arri was there to help comfort them with a great big smile.  Things changed once she turned eight however.  One day, the matron brought in a baby that had been left on the steps of the orphanage.  Something about that baby seemed to grab Arri’s attention.  Almost a day later, Ruby Rose and Natalie Grover came in to visit, as the latter was looking to adopt a child.  Arri plead the case for Natalie to adopt the baby as well. Natalie agreed, and Arri began her new life with her new family.

            Arri’s life was a wonderful growing up with her new family.  She spent a lot of time with her cousin Ember, as well as her growing younger sister.  Her mother taught her everything she needed to know about combat, as well as how to properly control her semblance.  Her father, Verum, wasn’t the best Huntsman in the world, but he did tell her stories of his time helping fight the Order of the Four Seasons at the Battle of Vytal while her mother defeated the evil Zenoma Mortem.  It turned out that Verum was far better at telling stories then fighting, for during a mission that he and Natalie went on while Arri was at Signal, Verum almost lost his life, but ended up only losing his legs.  While he did receive artificial limbs, he decided that he was content with staying at home and helping his daughters train. This is important because Arri would accidentally almost destroy her fathers robotic legs from time to time with her semblance.  This caused Arri to fear her semblance to a certain degree, but her parents helped her to overcome this fear to the point where she was willing to use it.  Despite still holding some reservations about her abilities, Arri enrolled at Beacon Academy along with her cousin Ember.  The two of them knew beforehand how the selection of teammates worked, so they came up with a very clever plan.

 

 

 

_Case of Terra Violetta_

Terra’s story is not one of grandeur or glory, but rather, a tale of harsh and cruel reality.  Born in the vast wastelands of Vacuo, Terra never got a chance to truly know her parents. Despite the steps being taken to help Vacuo recover from the events of the Uprising, there still was much work to be done, as well as the fact as several people and tribes still lived in poverty within Vacuo.  One of those families was the Violetta’s, who had a daughter and decided to trade her to a group of bandits for water and supplies.  Terra didn’t have anything other than her name and the bandits who raised her, if one would even call it that.  As time went on, Terra grew up to be quite the warrior.  She was very skilled in combat, and the fact that she taught herself how to use her Semblance was truly unique.  It happened during one of the nights with the bandits. She was only around ten years old when a drunk member of the bandits grabbed her, drove her out into the middle of the wilderness and tried to have his way with her.  In most of the civilized world of Remnant, most children would be terrified and not know how to respond to such a horrible act.  But Terra, she had lived so long in a place of pain and despair, so she did what she was taught to.  She killed him right then and there.  The problem was, she didn’t know how to operate the cars that the bandits used, so she decided to walk in no particular direction and didn’t stop.  During this time, she taught herself what she thought at the time was her adapting to the elements, but in reality, was her Semblance.  She took rocks and pieces of the earth and used it to form a protective shell around her body, keeping her cool in the sun and then take the heat absorbed from those rocks and use them to keep herself warm during the cold desert nights.  After almost five days of wandering the wilderness Terra came across a small Schnee Dust Company relief camp out in the wastelands of Vacuo.  There she managed to get the help she needed in order to keep herself alive.  When asked who her family was, she told the people in the camp she was her only family.

            Terra spent almost a week in the relief camp before stowing away on an airship heading to Mistral.  From there, she spent the next seven years working as a mercenary in Mistral.  Not really knowing what she was doing, she took on odd jobs as an alias that never met with her clients and lied about her age to avoid the wrath of the Mistral Huntsman Committee.  This went on for a few years.  However, Terra started getting in trouble with different groups within the underworld of Mistral, most specifically, the Branwen tribe.  Terra heard a rumor along the grape vine that Raven Branwen herself was aiming to have Terra killed for stealing from one of their outposts and killing a couple of their members in the process.  Because of this, Terra decided to go somewhere where she was certain Raven would never follow her.  Terra spent a large portion of her stolen money to pay a hacker to forge her documents to get into Beacon Academy.  To avoid raising any other suspicions regarding money, Terra actually managed to steal back the money she paid the hacker in order to pay her tuition fee to Beacon for four years.  To ensure that the hacker wouldn’t expose her if he ever found out that she stole the money she paid him with, once her enrollment at Beacon went through, she killed the hacker and then smuggled her way to Vale where she began her time at Beacon. She initially intended to just stay out of everybody’s way until the heat from Raven cooled down, but what happened afterwards changed everything in her life.

 

 

 

_Case of Team BEAT_

_Forming_

            Professor Ozpin watched as the new students stepped up to the launch platforms and prepared for his opening statements before initiation began.  He looked over the group of students.  As he looked at Arri, he saw something in her eyes. Something that he had only seen once before in his life.  But he put that aside and took his spot next to Beanie.  
            “For years, you have trained to become warriors, but today, your skills will be tested in the Emerald Forest.  You will be paired into teams today.  The first people you make eye contact with here in this forest will be your partners for the remainder of your time here at Beacon.  After you have found your partner, you will make your way to the northern temple.  There you will find different relics……

           

Ember rolled her eyes as Ozpin continued to explain the rules to her.  She had already read up on what exactly was going to happen during initiation.  She and her family made it a tradition to watch the initiation tapes of students enrolling at Beacon almost every year.  It was always fun for Yang and Nathan to always joke about how the “kids today don’t know what it was like when they were kids” and “so-and-so from our class did this-and-that better”.  But it did help Ember gain a solid understanding of how the system worked, and she and Arri had come up with a pretty solid plan to get themselves partnered together.  As soon as Ozpin finally finished saying his piece, the students all started being launched into the air towards the forest.  They even had made improvements to try and make sure that students couldn’t see where other students had landed, by placing them all in black boxes, not allowing them out until it was their turn to launch.  But Ember wasn’t worried.  She knew Arri was going ahead of her, so when her box opened up and she was launched into the sky, she immediately scanned the area and saw the giant group of vines shooting up from the ground.  Knowing that it was Arri’s handiwork, she aimed in that general direction. Looking back, she saw Beanie laughing and Ozpin pinching his forehead in annoyance at how the two of them managed to beat the system.  Ember turned herself around in midair and stuck out her tongue mockingly at Ozpin.

 

            Bovia was pretty nervous as she got closer to the tree line.  Despite having practiced her landing strategy before, she wasn’t exactly too keen on the idea of falling from a crazy height after everything she had been through years ago.  But taking a deep breath, she grabbed her weapon, and launched the chain forward and wrapped it around a strong branch.  After the chain looped around the branch a few times, Bovia held on tight and let her body swing with the chain as it wrapped up around the tree. After a few seconds of spinning, she finally slowed down and lowered herself to the ground.  Deciding not to waste time looking for a partner, she rushed towards the general direction of the temple.  As she was making her way through the forest, she saw a small pack of Grimm lurking in the woods.  One the one hand, she thought to herself, she could keep moving forward and get to the temple first, or she could wait and see if anybody would try to take on the Grimm themselves and if they would be a worthy partner for her.  Bovia decided to go with the latter option.  She hid herself in the trees for a few minutes, waiting for somebody to take out the Grimm.  But to her surprise, nobody showed up.  This lasted around ten minutes before Bovia decided that she was bored and decided to launch herself at the opposing Grimm.  But in that instant, another warrior leapt into the fray. This warrior was covered head to toe in some kind of rock armor.  Bovia had to alter her course in order to not accidentally run into the stranger, but that wasn’t super difficult.  It seemed that the stranger hadn’t seen Bovia and kept pushing towards the Grimm in front of her.  Bovia landed and pulled out her weapon.  With sickle in her right hand and the chain in her left, she swung the spiked weight on the end around and slammed it right through one of the Grimm’s skulls.  These were clearly simple beowolves, and as a result, the two of them made quick work of the creatures.  As they put their weapons away, they turned to look at each other.  But instead of seeing the eyes of the person that she had just fought beside, Bovia only saw a figure covered in rocks from head to toe.  
            Bovia looked over the armor of her comrade and asked, “How do you see out of that thing?”  
            “I don’t” the stranger responded.  “I just simply listen to the earth around me.”

            “Well, I still need a teammate for this event.”  Bovia said cracking her knuckles.  “And you seem good in a fight.  What say we team up?”  
            “No” the stranger turned and started walking away as she said this. Bovia, clearly confused, chased after her.  
            “Why not?”  
            “I am not here to be a member of some stupid team.  I’m here to just hide for four years and then I’ll be on my way.”

            “Hide?  What from?”  
            “None of your business.  Now if you’ll excuse me.”  But as the stranger continued forward, a drone came down from the sky and a projection of Professor Ozpin displayed before them.  
            “Unfortunately for you, all other students at this point in time have already found their partners for this test.  And as a result, by default, you two shall be teammates for the next four years.” 

The stranger simply rolled her eyes at this information and walked right through the projection of Professor Ozpin.  
            “I work alone old man.”  
            “Young lady, if you are going to attend my school, you will abide by its rules.  Unless you would rather be expelled.  And trust me, my standing with the World Council will guarantee that not only will you not be allowed enrollment into any of the other academies, but also that your record will be discovered by the authorities.”  The stranger stopped dead in her tracks when Ozpin said this.  Her whole body shook in surprise and fear. For a split second, it looked like she was going to try and smash the drone, but she decided against that and simply let her armor of rocks fall harmlessly to the ground.  Turning and facing Bovia, their eyes met.  After a moment passed, the stranger walked over and extended her hand to Bovia.  
            “Name’s Terra.  Can’t promise these next four years won’t be completely painless.”  Bovia was hesitant to take the hand, but decided to return the gesture.  
            “I’m used to pain” she said.  Terra rolled her eyes not believing a word she said, and turned towards their goal that laid deeper in the forest.

 

“Are you for real?” Arri said as she tried to speak amidst her laughter.  
            “Yeah.  It was hilarious” Ember said walking beside Arri.  “Ozpin just looked so disappointed while Beanie was laughing his butt off the whole time.”  
            “That is too perfect!  I hope your parents managed to record it so we can watch it later!”  
            “Oh you better believe it!”

The two of them continued on talking like this.  There were surprisingly few Grimm packed together in the forest like normal. It almost seemed unnatural.  But the two of them weren’t complaining. After some walking, they reached the northern temple.  A few other teams were already there and had grabbed the different relics scattered across the temple.  Arri and Ember made their way down and started to examine the different relics. This year they were replicas of the weapons used by the freshmen of the Battle of Vytal against the Order.  That included the weapons of Team NEMN, Team JCTB, Team AQUA, and so on.

“Well at least it’s better than last years relics” Ember said rolling her eyes.  
            “What did Ozpin use last year again?”  
            “If I remember right, it was notebooks with different words written in invisible ink on them.  And then Oz used those words to pair up teams.  It was really kind of weak.”  
            “I mean, at least they’re trying this time”  Arri said as she went to pick up one of the relics.  “Which one should we grab?”  
            “How about my dad’s weapon?  Makes sense.”  
            “That’s fine with me.  I’m just mad that neither of my parents weapons made it on here.”  
            “I mean, I don’t see any of the weapons that belonged to Team RWBY or Team JNPR or any of those other famous teams.  Looks like it’s more my dad’s generation.”  
            “So what, the teammates that were on Team NEMN will be paired according to their weapons then?”  
            “It makes the most logical sense.  If we take my dad’s weapon, we will get paired up with whoever took Evan’s weapon.  And so on and so forth down the line.”  
            “Has Evan’s weapon been taken yet?”

“Doesn’t look like it.  Should we stick around and see who does?  Maybe then we could see who we’re probably going to end up working with for the next four years!”  Suddenly, not seconds after Ember said that, Bovia and Terra leapt out from the forest and landed right outside the temple.  Terra surveyed the two other girls standing there at the temple and then started examining the relics.  Bovia made a beeline for the two girls and was grinning from ear to ear.  
            “Are you the daughters of the legendary Grover siblings?” she asked with what looked like a twinkle in her eye.  
            “Are we really that famous?” Ember asked scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.  “I know that Arri’s mom is famous for killing the big bad of the battle of Vytal but my mom and dad are really that famous?”  
            “Well of course!  Your father was the one who killed the terrorist Adam Taurus and your mom fought and lived through both battles of Beacon and the Battle of Vytal!”  
            “Ember, you know that our parents are super famous” Arri said looking at Ember with a confused look.  “Why would you think otherwise?”  Ember sighed and leaned against one of the pillars of the temple.  
            “I wanted people to remember me for who I am.  Not just being the child of famous fighters.  And heck, my name itself isn’t really anything original.”  
            “It isn’t?”  
            “No.  I was named after my dad’s mentor.  And heck, my middle name is my mom’s mother.”  
            “Why did they name you after a famous bandit of Mistral?”  
            “Well apparently before I was born, Raven and my mom hashed things out and actually fought beside one another during a few missions.  Heck, apparently the Branwen tribe now acts as a mercenary group with ties to the kingdom of Mistral.  But at the same time, I wish I had more of an identity of my own. Honestly I’m kind of envious of my brother.  All they did was give him my dad’s mom’s middle name.  At least he has a name that he can call his own.”  
            “Are you three done yammering?”  Terra said as she grabbed one of the relics.  “I just want to get this over with.”  Ember and Arri couldn’t spot which relic that Terra had grabbed due to the fact that they were talking with Bovia.  Terra turned to leave and Bovia followed.  
            “Oh, my name is Bovia by the way.  Hope we can be friends during our time here at Beacon!”  She waved to Arri and Ember and they returned the gesture. With neither of them entirely sure what happened, they started surveying the area.  
            “Which relic did she take?” Ember asked looking over the pedestals.”  
            “Well we took your dad’s weapons, and I’m pretty sure Miles’ swords were gone before we got here.  Wait, Evan’s weapon is gone!”  Ember walked over to where Arri was and saw that she was right.  Evan’s weapon was gone.  They both looked at the empty pedestal, then at each other, then they looked at the pedestal again and started laughing.  
            “Oh man, those two are going to be some characters for sure!”  Arri said as she tried to keep herself standing despite how hard she was laughing.  
            “And I thought my parents were exaggerating about how crazy my teammates were going to be during my time here at this school!”  They both continued to laugh and started making their way back to where the initiation started.  But then as they were making their way through the forest, they heard a loud crashing sound off in the distance.  They ran forward through the foliage and found a giant Bengeri.  It pounded its chest and launched a flurry of punches towards Bovia and Terra.  Terra managed to hold her own against the creature but the attacks caused Bovia to fly backwards towards the tree line.  She quickly composed herself, took the sickle part of her weapon, and threw it towards a strong branch.  The sickle latched on and Bovia spun around it until she slowed down enough where she could land on the branch and regain her composure.  Not wasting a second, Ember and Arri summoned their weapons and threw themselves headfirst into the fray.  Ember launched a few projectiles to try and stun the Bengeri, while Arri went for a direct attack on the creatures chest.  The projectiles worked in stunning the Bengeri, but the attack from Arri did very little to hurt the monster.  The Bengeri roared and connected a powerful hit on Arri, sending her flying into a nearby boulder.  While Arri’s aura took most of the damage, it was clear that it shook her up pretty bad.  Ember became more enraged after seeing this.  She rushed forward and transformed her weapon from ranged mode, akin to her mothers weapons, to close combat mode.  The chambers that held her ammo on her arms extended forward and became batons very much akin to her father’s weapons.  Ember rushed forward and was about to launch a flurry of strikes against the Bengeri, but then Terra leapt up out of nowhere and started attacking her opponent.  At this point it was too late for Ember to alter her course, so she ended up colliding with Terra causing both of them to land on the ground hard.  The Bengeri took this opportunity, picked up the both of them and threw them towards the same boulder that Arri was still recovering around.  Arri acted quickly and summoned two pillars of vines that helped break their fall. When the two of them hit their specific pillars, the vines bent in a way that absorbed the impact in order to make sure that the two of them didn’t suffer major damage.  Ember got up and grabbed Terra’s tank top strap.  
            “What is your problem?!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.  “In what kind of combat training on the face of Remnant do you jump in front of another Huntress?  Are you trying to get us killed?!”  
            “Get of my back kid” Terra said slapping away Embers hand.  “Just because you were born into a great family that could teach you fighting from the world go doesn’t mean you should get in the way of somebody who can clearly fight better than you!”  
            “What was that?”  It seemed like Ember and Terra were about to fight.  Arri wanted to interject, but she was stuck with cold feet trying to figure out what she could do to solve this issue.  In that time, the Bengeri was running towards the three of them, seemingly intent on killing them where they stood.  But then, Bovia jumped down from her tree, fired a powerful stream of water at the Bengeri that knocked it back.  While the monster tried to regain its balance, Bovia turned to the other three.  
            “Terra!  I barely know you, but from what I’ve gathered, you prefer to run solo” Bovia said pointing her finger directly in Terra’s face.  “But when you are working with a group, you need to recognize that you aren’t the only person on the battlefield.  And Ember!  Keep your cool!  Focus on the job at hand and save the argument for after this is over!  Now listen to me.  Arri, how strong are your vines?”  Arri was still frozen in shock, trying to get her mind to catch up. “Arri!  Vines!  How strong?!” Shaking her head and getting her bearings, Arri finally responded.  
            “They are as strong as I need them to be.”  
            “Okay.  Here’s the plan.”

 

The Bengeri regained its footing and immediately turned back towards the team and rushed forward on all fours.  But the moment that it placed its front paws on the ground, Arri and Terra rushed forward and used their semblances to trap them to the ground.  Arri’s vines wrapped around the left paw like a vice while Terra’s rocks crushed the right paw to oblivion.  The Bengeri roared in pain, giving Ember the opportunity to rush forward towards the creatures legs.  She fired three shots at each leg and then capped it off by phasing through the body of the Bengeri and hitting the legs in the place where she fired her shots.  The monster keeled over in pain, where Bovia took her weapon, spun around the spiked weight of her weapon, and smashed it down on the head of the Bengeri.  Within the spiked weight was a cartridge of fire dust crystals, so as a result there was a fiery explosion of the creatures head.  Not long after that, the creature completely faded away into the darkness. The four of them stood up and put their weapons away.  
            “Well then,” Bovia said cleaning off the dust from her outfit. “Shall we?”

 

The audience applauded as Professor Ozpin announced the members of Team IVRY to the entire class.  Then he pulled up his scroll and swiped the pictures of Nathan and Evan’s weapons onto the screen.  
            “Bovia Brown, Ember Grover, Arri Grover, and Terra Violletta.”  As he said this, the four girls got up on the stage. “The four of you retrieved the weapons of the teammates Nathan Grover and Evan Hahn.  From this day forward you shall be known as Team BEAT.  Lead by, Bovia Brown.  The audience applauded as Bovia tried to wrap her head around the fact that she had been appointed team leader.  Ember managed to sneak up to Professor Ozpin and whisper in his ear,  
            “You totally didn’t give me or Arri the job because of what happened in the forest didn’t you?”  
            “The part where you beat my rules and stuck your tongue out at me or the part where Bovia managed to bring you all together to fight as a team?  Yes.”  
            “To which part?”  
            “Yes.”  Ozpin then motioned for Ember to get off the stage and he continued to read off the lists of teams that had been formed.  Ember smiled and joined her teammates in the audience.

 

 

 

_Case of Team BEAT  
Bonding_

            Over the next four years, Team BEAT would be remembered as one of the strangest yet most powerful teams to spend time at Beacon Academy.  During their first year, there was no Vytal festival, so there was no opportunity for their names to be recognized in the four kingdoms outside of Ember and Arri.  During that time, it was especially difficult because Terra was more interested in her own agenda.  She didn’t object to Bovia’s appointment as leader, but she was more interested in her own personal goals in doing whatever the flip she wanted.  This lead to some issues during their first year.  While nothing was ever reported to the local authorities, the other three members of Team BEAT had to track down Terra and stop her from committing mass murder in an incident involving several criminal organizations lead by the notorious Neapolitan and her criminal empire.  But her teammates found her and managed to stop her before she did something that would have landed her in prison.  After the event, Terra opened up to her teammates about her past and her own trauma.  While Bovia was able to relate that she did understand trauma due to her experience in the desert in Menagerie, she did talk to Terra at length about how they truly are different and should try to better understand each other. These revelations were new experiences for Arri and Ember, who had only heard about the harsh nature of the world outside their own homes.

 

            During their second year, the Vytal festival was in full effect.  Many people watching were not surprised when Team BEAT coasted through the first round.  What did surprise them was that in place of the famous names of the Grover cousins, were the two other teammates that no one had heard of. Terra had hesitations due to the fact that she did have a history with different criminal organizations, but Bovia insisted that she be given a chance to show that she has changed, as well as to show the criminal organizations watching just how strong she really was. While Bovia was more than willing to give the second slot of the doubles round to one of the Grover cousins, they both said that Bovia should join Terra in this battle and make a name for herself as well.  Also, while she didn’t tell Ember, Arri was still nervous about her semblance.  She was fine using it in situations that revolved around fighting Grimm, but she was still scared she might hurt somebody if she used it in a battle against another human.  As a result, Bovia and Terra were matched up against a pair of students from Shade Academy.  While that battle was hard fought, it was ultimately Team BEAT that ended up victorious. With that victory, Terra told Bovia that she wanted her to go to the final eight as thanks for helping her during the last few years.  Bovia wanted Terra to go, but Terra persuaded her to fight in the final eight.  Bovia won her first match, but lost in a fight against one of the Nikos children.  Within that, she was able to fight in the third place match and managed to win that to earn herself a spot on the podium alongside the other fighters. While there were still rumblings around the fact that the two Grover cousins didn’t take part in the tournament outside of the round of four, but it was hard to ignore the abilities of Bovia and Terra, which got many different groups talking.

 

            The third year at Beacon was mostly uneventful due to the fact that nothing was truly shifting in the world at the time.  There wasn’t any grand enemy to defeat, no hordes of Grimm just outside the walls of Vale, nothing that would make the national news.  However, this was a critical point in time for the Grover cousins.  Within this period of time, Arri had grown even more powerful in her abilities with her Semblance.  She had started to begin using her abilities more as a means to fight actual opponents. Her fears were starting to loosen over the course of time, and despite some moments where it seemed like she had gone too far, it wasn’t actually anything troublesome.  Just some bruises here and there, and more often than not, Arri’s opponent’s aura’s managed to take the majority of the damage. However, there was a moment where Arri was facing off against one of her classmates and accidentally used an attack that ended up crushing the students left arm.  Arri went into shock and was in a catatonic state, not responding to anyone. The student in question did end up okay, they were able to take her to Professor Curtiss in time to deal with the injury.  However, this made Arri incredibly afraid and unwilling to speak to anyone.  She ran out into the Forest of Forever Fall and sealed herself away in a giant case of vines.  Several teachers and students attempted to break through the vines but none were successful.  While everybody was trying to break through the vines however, Terra took matters into her own hands and managed to create a tunnel that lead to right beneath where Arri was hiding. 

When Terra entered the small prison that Arri had made for herself, she expected Arri to create another shell around herself to keep Terra from speaking to her.  But instead, Arri just sat there, not flinching, nor saying a word.  Terra took this chance to sit down next to her teammate.  She reminisced over everything they had been through together over the last few years.  Between the four of them fighting together in the Vytal festival and giving both her and Bovia a chance to show the world what they were made of, as well as being able to stop Terra from continuing down the path that she was on during her early years at Beacon and how greatful she was for that moment.  Arri still didn’t respond to anything that Terra was saying.  Terra decided to give Arri a big hug, and thanked her for being her friend.  Terra went on to explain that she would more than likely be in a far worse place than when she entered Beacon if not for them. She also said that despite everything that has happened, things move forward, and you just have to accept it. Arri didn’t budge for a little while longer, but then lowered the vines surrounding her and Terra and made her way back to the school.  After some time, she opened up to her team about her own feelings.  The idea that she was afraid that she would hurt the people she cared most about with her Semblance.  But her teammates promised her that they would never let anything like that ever happen to any of them.  Terra even made a joke about how it would be fine if such an attack was directed towards their enemies, to which Ember and Bovia laughed, but Arri, still a bit hesitant about the whole situation, simply chuckled.  For the remainder of the year however, Arri’s confidence grew and she became more aware of how to properly use her Semblance. She even took new steps forward in implementing vines and other pieces of foliage to her weapon in case she was ever in a situation where she needed something like that in battle.

 

            As for Ember, her critical point wasn’t a result of her own actions, but the lack of the appearance of her family.  While she was at Beacon, she expected to not have much contact with her family back on Patch outside of a few phone calls here and there.  However, she started to notice that even when she did visit home, her father was not there.  Her mother said that it was for a good reason, but Ember still felt sad by her father’s absence.  This lead into Team BEAT’s fourth year at Beacon and the second and final Vytal Festival of their academic careers.  During this time, Team BEAT cruised past the first four once again.  And this time, Bovia and Terra insisted that the Grover cousins be the ones to fight in the round of two.  In doing so, they showed the world that even though they bared the same last name as two of the greatest heroes of Remnant, they were their own unique beings.  Arri showcased that while she knew that her Semblance carried some dangers, she was willing to learn how to control it and how to properly use it in battle. Alongside that, while she did use a similar weapon to her mother, she didn’t carry the same level of fear as she did. She didn’t hide, she didn’t try to keep hidden who she was.  She made it very clear that she was here to make a name for herself.  And Ember showcased the fact that she can take elements of the past in terms of combat techniques, and bring them into a new light. She used movements that were akin to her father with the weapons and power of her mother to create a new flow of combat.  The two of them easily cruised past the doubles round.  Both of them wanted to continue on to the round of eight, and both Bovia and Terra had opposing thoughts.  So they played rock paper scissors for it.  Ember won two out of three, and continued to the round of eight. She continued to impress the world with her dedicated power and ferocity in the ring.  No one stood a chance against her in that tournament as she cruised her way to the title.  But as she stood on the top of the podium triumphant, she looked into the crowd. She smiled when she saw her family, but it fell when she realized that her father was not among them.

 

 

 

_The First Four Have Made Their Mark_

_Time Has Given Them Challenges_

_And They Raised Up to Face_

_Each and Every One of Them._

_But Deeper Within the Cracks,_

_Something Darker is Growing,_

_To A Point Where it Breaks._


	4. Prelude to War: A Point Where it Breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Critical moment in the times leading to the coming War of Seasons.

_Today Marks a Celebration_

_Of the Accomplishments of Young Warriors_

_But the Presence of A Person Reveals Many Things_

_More Pieces of the Larger Puzzle_

_And More Cracks in the Rift._

**Graduation of Team BEAT**

           The audience applauded as Professor Ozpin continued to read off the names of the students graduating.  Nathan sat in the nosebleeds applauding as his daughter’s name got announced.  But as soon as Ember finished walking across the stage, he got up and left.  Nobody else paid attention to him leaving.  He simply headed out into the hallway and started walking past the many pillars on his way out of the building.

            “And where do you think you’re going?”  Nathan stopped and turned around to see Miles leaning up against one of the pillars that was out of his line of sight.

“Better question” Nathan said cracking his neck.  “What are you doing here?”  
            “Well first and foremost Aurora wanted to see Gray and Hera while we were still in town and secondly, your wife invited me since you apparently couldn’t be bothered to show up to your own daughters graduation.”  
            “Well, I showed up.  Happy now?”  
            “So why are you up here in the rafters and not with your family?”  
            “I have a therapy session in a few minutes…..”  
            “Don’t play with me Nathan” Miles said moving from his position on the pillar and taking a few steps towards Nathan.  “Yang told me.  You didn’t go to her finals match in the Vytal Festival, you’ve barely been home when your daughter is able to come home and visit, let alone when your son is home from school on the very island you live on.”  
            “What do you care?  It’s my life.”       
            “You’re pushing your family out.  I want to know why.”  
            “I’m not pushing anybody out!”  
            “They why aren’t you with them?!  They’re your family!”  
            “BECAUSE MY DAUGHTER REMINDS ME OF EMBER!”  Nathan yelled at the top of his lungs.  This more than likely would have been heard by everyone in the theater, but it got drowned out by the thunderous sound of cheers and applause signaling that the event had come to an end.  
            “Look Miles, ever since everything happened in Atlas all those years ago, it’s been tough for me.  After what Whitley did and what Weiss went through, it brought back memories of Aequo. Memories of Ember, my teacher.”  
            “What does that have to do with you leaving your family?”  
            “I’ve been rallying a group to try and track down the remaining members of the Order.”  
            “The Order is dead.  We destroyed them when we were kids Nathan.”  
            “No.  Jacob told me.  They’re out there.  And so long as even a single member still draws breath, Ember is still unavenged.”  
            “Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it Adam who killed her?  And the rest of your family for that matter?  We avenged her Nathan.  Your family from back then is at peace.  What matters is that you are there for your family now.”  
            “So you don’t think I should try to take down the Order, is that it?”  
            “I think that you have a daughter and a son who both think the world of you sitting in there with your wife who gave up an arm to try and save you because of your own inexperience.  If you keep living in the past, you’re doomed to be trapped by it forever.”  Miles then started walking towards the exit.  
            “I want you to join my group Miles” Nathan said.  Miles stopped in his tracks.  “We have information about them.  We can find them.  This is my destiny.  I am done trying to act like everything is fine when it isn’t.  And I know you think that too.  I know you still haven’t gotten over Aequo.”

“Maybe I haven’t.  But I choose to focus on making sure nothing like that never happens to my family.  I won’t let my family die again.”  Nathan, almost as if he ignored Miles’ previous statement, stretched out his hand. 

“Join me. We can avenge our families.  Bring an end to our suffering.”  Miles didn’t even turn around.  He simply sighed.  
            “The only person suffering here Nathan, is you.  You suffer in your own pits of despair.  You suffer in this delusion that chasing something and abandoning those who care about you will free you.  It will only create more hurt in your heart.  And one day, you will find out that your actions have consequences.” Miles continued to walk forward. Nathan lowered his hand.  
            “If you aren’t with me, then I want nothing to do with you.  Unless you support me unconditionally, you were never really my friend.”  Miles didn’t stop walking.  
            “If that’s your definition of a friend, then you are far more gone than I thought.”  Miles reached the stairs leading down to the ground floor.  He didn’t look back even for a second.  “Goodbye Nathan.”

 

 

 

Miles reached the bottom of the stairs.  The students had already started to flow out from the auditorium.  There were a lot of hugs, a lot of smiles, and a lot of tears.  Miles smiled and made a beeline for his friends when he saw Yang hugging her daughter to the point where Ember was being lifted off the ground by her mother.  
            “Mom!  Need air!” Ember started turning blue as her mother continued to crush her.  But fortunately for her, Yang released her so that she could breathe normally again. Everybody continued to shower Ember with hugs and celebrations.  Arri finally managed to weave her way through the crowd as well and joined the rest of them. Everybody was hugging one another, and enjoying the others company.  Miles managed to smile a little bit, but it was clear on his face that something was wrong. Yang noticed it right away.  She pulled Miles aside and into the staircase away from everybody.  
            “He was here, wasn’t he?”  Yang said with sadness in her voice.  
            “Yes.  And he is completely dead set on following through with his mission.”  
            “He’s told me bits and pieces about it.  I just wish there was more that I could do to help him.”  
            “So what are you going to do now?”  
            “I won’t join him on his crusade.  Ember needs help getting herself situated now that she’s graduated, I’ve got a few years to get Gray ready for his school years.  And since my husband is clearly caught up in his own world, I’m going to have a lot on my plate.”  
            “I’m sorry.”  Miles said placing his hand on Yang’s shoulder.  She smiled.  
            “It’ll be fine.”  Yang said wiping a few tears from her eyes.  “My father raised me and Ruby pretty much by himself since Summer died, I have a good idea of how I should take care of my kids.”  Yang tried to keep smiling, but it was impossible to deny her emotions.  Miles gave her a hug as she let her emotions go. 

 

_Not much else was said regarding Nathan that day.  After Yang processed the new information, she and Miles returned to the group and continued to celebrate Embers accomplishment.  After the fact, different pieces fell into place that lead to several future events._

_The Shadows Begin to Grow._

_One Who Was Once Content_

_Now Grows More and More Bitter._

_The Memories of the Past_

_Shall Soon Plunge the Present_

_Into Despair._


	5. Prelude to War: Team GASH

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events that lead Team GASH to the coming War of Seasons.

_The Youngest of the New Generation_

_Their Stories Still to be Told_

_But Many Truths Can Be Found_

_Hiding in the Cracks._

 

 

_Case of Gray Xiao Long/Grover_

Gray always had an interesting childhood.  Being the second child was hard enough, but he also felt like he was the one forgotten by the rest of his family more often than not.  His father was always interested in training Ember during his younger days, but thankfully, for a period of time while Ember was at school, this allowed Nathan to spend more time with his son.  But when his father decided to leave for his crusade against the Order, Gray felt a great shift within his family.  His mother, while providing a brave front, was clearly hiding great pain within her heart.  Ember was affected by this too.  While most of the members of Team BEAT went out into the world to help those in need after they graduated, Ember spent a good deal of time at home with what was left of her family.  Gray could see that these two people were hurting immensely.  He tried to help them as best he could by letting them train him. Gray had discovered his Semblance at a young age when he was fiddling with some scrap metal that his grandfather Taiyang had lying around in the garage.  Gray could manipulate and change metal to match whatever shape he so desired. At first, this didn’t seem to provide him with many options in combat.  However, Pyrrha got the family in touch with miners in Anima who specialized in mining the metals that made up Pyrrha’s armor.  This metal was one that Gray could control easily and quickly and he soon began to develop his own unique technique.  His style allowed him to change his weapons on the fly depending on the situation.  If he were on the offensive, he could wield twin swords or perhaps a powerful spear. But just as quickly as he could be on the offensive, he could take the metal he was using and quickly morph it into a shield.  He tried to figure out his own unique style of combat with his abilities, but never really found a good rhythm.  Every once in a while, Nathan would return from his crusade, but only briefly.  Gray remembered that it was mostly arguing between Yang and Nathan whenever he was home.  He would try to play it off whenever people asked him about it, but it was clearly a touch subject for him to deal with.  As more time passed, Ember started spending less time at home and more time out in the world as a huntress.  This made home life more difficult for Gray especially when his father was home.  He was actually relieved when he was able to leave home and attend Beacon.  But by that time, Nathan had all but stopped returning home, and what came soon after would make Gray wish for the nights of arguing were back once more.

 

 

 

_Case of Aurora Watson_

            Aurora was born into a very loving and well off family.  She was the daughter of two of the great heroes of the Battle of Vytal as well as the child of the Chief of Menagerie’s daughter.  So from the word go, Aurora seemed like she was going to have a very easy and comfortable life.  But Miles and Blake took great effort to make sure that their daughter did not enter the world of adulthood with the notion that she would get everything that she thought she deserved.  Blake was sure to show Aurora the horrors that the Faunus had to endure over the course of the last several centuries, and Miles was sure to show her the horrors of war and destruction, letting her know that even those who aspired for peace were not safe from the harm of war.  Aurora was very well traveled.  Her family showed her many different locales across Remnant and introduced her to amazing people around the world.  It also helped that since Miles and Blake were still active as Huntsmen that they had two places where they lived.  They had their house in Menagerie of course, but they also had an apartment in Vale where they spent a good amount of time, especially when Miles and Blake were out on missions.  This allowed Aurora the chance to become good friends with Gray and Ember, as well as a lot of the local children who lived in Vale.  She made several friends, each of whom had many different backgrounds. Aurora was a bit unsure of what she wanted to do with her life while she was younger however.  Her younger brother Daniel had been born and as he grew up, it became apparent that he had no desire to be a Huntsman like his parents. Aurora had some of those doubts about her future.  But she honestly didn’t know what else she would be if not a Huntress.  Her parents constantly told her that it was okay for her to follow her own path.  Miles even encouraged it, saying that it was important to have people who cared about helping others but did more than just fight monsters in the wilderness.  But one day, there was a surprise horde of Grimm that attacked Menagerie.  No one knows for sure what drew the Grimm to that location, but all that is known was that it was a terrible day.  It wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the Grimm attacks of old, but it still created a great amount of terror.  This was a defining moment in Aurora’s life. 

She still remembers it as clear as day.  Her parents were off fighting the horde and she was left with her grandparents and the guards that patrolled the area.  However, a new species of Grimm had surfaced and began attacking the town. These new creatures were mole-like creatures that scientists later named Tunnler.  As creatures that were able to attack from beneath the ground, this created a huge disadvantage for the Hunters fighting and left several civilians at risk.  However, Aurora quickly leapt into action the moment the monsters started popping up in town. The family had an old family heirloom sword that was supposedly wielded by Miles’ family eons ago, but hadn’t been used in years as Miles forged his own blades.  It was a deep blue blade without any special weaponry as it was built long before it was common to combine firearms with handheld weapons. Aurora joined the local militia and Hunters who remained to defend the town.  It wasn’t an easy battle.  Aurora didn’t have much combat training yet, so she mostly played a role of support in the battle.  But one moment changed everything for her.  She saw a Tunnler making its way towards a child who had gotten lost in the chaos.  In that moment, her grandfather Ghira leap in the path of the creature fully prepared to give his own life to save the child’s.  What happened next, even to this day when Aurora does it regularly, it is difficult to describe.  It was almost as if all of reality had slowed to a crawl.  In that moment, Aurora didn’t know what happened, but she didn’t question it and rushed towards the Grimm attacking her grandfather.  With one quick strike, in one moment, the Tunnler had a head, and in the next, it didn’t.  After that, Aurora felt completely drained and passed out where she stood.

            When she came to, she found herself in her parents house recovering.  The threat had been dealt with, and Menagerie, despite taking some heavy damage, was still standing.  Afterwards, Aurora and her family took the time to find out what her Semblance was and how it worked.  Turned out it is a speed based semblance.  It has elements similar to Ruby’s speed and Jacob’s time dilation, but where Ruby moved faster through a sort of phase shift with the rose petals, Aurora’s speed is a true high motion Semblance.  Wherein her body is moving at a high speed and as a result, can move faster than the rest of the moving world.  However, with practice and trials, it became clear that this Semblance drains aura super-fast.  It doesn’t cause the damage that Miles’ Semblance causes himself, but it is an ability that should only be used in emergencies.  Following this event, Aurora felt that she needed to be a Huntress as her career.  Seeing what the creatures of Grimm could do firsthand, she felt a sense of duty to help protect what matters.  Following that day, she started training in earnest with Miles.  She decided to keep the family sword, but also picked up the same skills of dual wielding as Miles had.  Due to this, she forged her own sword with some of the finest blacksmiths on Menagerie.  This sword was a white-ish orange, which Aurora thought went well with the color of the family sword.  Over the course of the remaining formative years of her life, Aurora kept training to be a Huntress.  While there were talks about possibly having a fifth academy being built in Menagerie, those didn’t come to fruition before Aurora already went to Beacon to begin her training.  During this time however, she would face the greatest of trials.

 

 

 

_Case of Sora Nikos_

            Sora grew up with so many siblings, he didn’t know any other desire than to simply get away from everything that was keeping him down in life.  Between both his parents being legendary heroes, one of them the Headmistress of an Academy, and his siblings all being extremely gifted fighters, he always had a sense of needing to push himself further.  This played into him discovering his Semblance when he was very young.  There was one day where he felt like he was completely smothered.  The whole family was training out by the ruins of Kuroyuri, and Sora was feeling especially stressed and panicked at that very moment. All he wanted to do was get to where he could be free.  And the next thing he knew, he was flying through the sky like a bird.  At first, initial reactions were that it was perhaps a polarity semblance similar to Pyrrha’s, as in he was able to control some of the metal plating on his armor to allow flight.  But after further testing, it became clear that he could fly without anything holding him back.  It didn’t drain his aura, it didn’t drain his stamina, he could just fly.  While it wasn’t a powerful ability directly linked to combat, it was useful all the same.  Sora continued with his training.  He took up the weapons of twin shields on his arms that he used as weapons and defense. Hand-to-hand combat was his specialty, and the shields provided some extra power to the strikes.  They could also fire shots akin to Yang’s gauntlets, and they could be joined together to form a single short sword.  Sora never really used the short sword much, only if he felt the need to change up tactics on his opponent.  When the time came for him to choose a school, most people thought that he was going to choose Haven where his parents both worked.  But continuing to live his life practically smothered by his family was not to his liking.  So he decided to go to Beacon Academy.  While both Atlas and Shade Academy made attempts at recruiting him, Sora had no desire to join the military of Atlas nor spend time out in the wilderness of Vacuo.  While he did desire to fly over the vast stretches of desert in Vacuo, he had also heard stories of the many bandit groups out in the wilderness.  Plus, he always loved Vale.  For whatever reason, whenever he visited, he felt more at home more than in his home in Mistral.  And while he felt safe and secure in this new place, not everything lasts forever.

 

 

 

_Case of Hera Grover_

            Hera always had a strange understanding of how the world worked.  She had seen so many different things during the course of her young life given the fact that her parents travelled a lot, but most of the things that she had to deal with in her mind were from her dreams. For as long as she could remember, Hera had dreams of a woman with white hair and red eyes controlling hordes of Grimm across the world.  But that wasn’t all that she saw.  There were sometimes dreams of things and events that made no sense to Hera. Worlds where her mother and father never existed.  Or a world where her mother and her best friend Ruby Rose were the ones who raised her and Arri.  Or worlds where instead of fighting Grimm, people were more obsessed with romance than with protecting the world.  This troubled Hera at a young age.  She rarely told anybody about this and kept it to herself.  Daily training would help keep her mind off of these different anomalies. As she grew older, she became more focused.  Unlike the rest of her teammates, she was actually born with her Semblance. Natalie would tell stories of how Hera would be crawling on the floor before she had learned how to walk, and she would stretch up to where the cookies were kept and make a huge mess. With some training and guidance, Hera discovered that she could stretch her body to almost infinite lengths.  She decided that her weapons should make the most of this ability, so she wore iron gloves with pistols installed in the wrists. She studied martial arts with Lie Ren whenever he would come to visit or Hera’s family would go visit the Ren’s. The gloves were built with the idea that she could use them quickly and freely, but they still weighed enough that she could do some serious damage.  Along with that, Hera discovered one day when she was making jokes with her older sister, that she could actually transform her face and body to impersonate people.  However, ever since that moment, she has not been able to do it at will very well. Along with that, several different tests revolving around her abilities have yielded some interesting results. While her body can stretch great lengths, it can only be done if Hera wills it, and it primarily only works on the arms and legs.  Any attempts at stabbing her doesn’t result in a more comedic rubber-being moment, but rather the body responds as if aura is naturally used.  And if she runs out of Aura, then her stretching ability becomes extremely limited.  While her stretching does not drain her aura, it is something that Hera has to keep in the back of her mind at all times.  However, this did not deter her.  She had the advantage of growing up with both her parents around to help train her as her father had to deal with his new artificial limbs and her mother needing something to do with Arri off at school, Hera had a great time connecting more with her adoptive parents and becoming more of a fighter.  And when the time came for her to go to Beacon for school, she faced this new challenge with confidence and excitement.  But not she nor any of the other members of her team could have anticipated what came next in all their lives.

 

 

 

_The Pieces Are Falling Into Place_

_The Warriors Begin to Take the Stage_

_A Period of Peace_

_Will Begin to Shatter_

_At a Point Where it Bends._


	6. Prelude to War: A Point Where it Bends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heroes of the previous generation make a critical decision that plays into the coming War of Seasons.

_The Cracks in the Rift_

_Have Become More Apparent_

_A Decision Must Be Made_

_Before Everything_

_Finally Breaks._

            “Are you completely sure of what you saw out in the field Evan?”  Miles said as he leaned forward on his desk clasping his hands together.

            “I know what I saw” Evan said as he brought up a picture on his monitor.  “Nathan and the Children of Aequo ripping apart a settlement to root out a hidden cell of the Order.”  Everybody in attendance either gasped or murmured in confusion. This was a holographic conference between several key players amongst the Kingdoms of Remnant.  In attendance were Professor Ozpin and Christy representing Beacon, Weiss representing Atlas, Pyrrha representing Mantle with Evan there due to his eye-witness accounts, Sun Wukong representing Vacuo, and Miles and Blake representing Menagerie.  Ty, Brooklyn, Jacob, and Natalie were all on the call as well due to each of them having a personal stake in this conversation.  
            “At the very least,” Ty said pulling up the mugshots of the captured Order members, “he did manage to find some important figures in the Order.”  
            “But at what cost?” Christy snapped back at Ty.  “A few members of the Order is not worth the damage caused by the Children of Aequo!”  
            “Well it’s not like we’ve fared any better when it comes to the remaining cells of the Order” Weiss said looking over the evidence.  “But I do agree, not only are the tactics completely brutal, but they are almost completely unnecessary.”

            “I can attest to this” Pyrrha said pulling up different images of several other villages in Mistral.  “For every village that they find members of the Order, there are three other villages where there is nothing whatsoever.”

            “Yeah, there have been a few instances that have nearly wrecked important pieces of the Oasis Restoration project” Sun said as he pulled up images of destroyed work sites and water towers.  “We almost lost all the available water just because he heard somebody say that the Order had poisoned the water.  And instead of testing it, he just straight up destroyed everything they could before we stopped them.”

“He’s gotten better over time” Brooklyn piped up.  “I mean, in terms of other reports….”

“He only got better because we told him to” Ozpin said pulling up official documents. “Ever since we made him sign the treaty that allowed his organization to run freely while still adhering to the rule of the four Kingdoms, he has tried to put on a pretty face.  But we can’t ignore his actions any longer.”  
            “What do the representatives of Menagerie say?”  Jacob said looking at Miles.  “You’re uncharacteristically quiet despite your vocal objections to Nathan’s actions.”  
            “Everybody here knows my stance on Nathan” Miles said leaning back in his chair.  “No need to beat a dead horse.”  
            “Besides, they haven’t been seen around Menagerie over the years” Blake said stepping forward.  “If anything, we have the least reason to be here.”  
            “Miles is one of the last remaining citizens of Aequo” Ozpin said taking a sip of coffee.  “He has more reason than anybody else to be in this room”  Miles pinched his forehead as Ozpin said this.  
            “So you’re just going to ignore the fact that Jacob, Evan and Natalie are all from Aequo as well?  Why am I being singled out here?”  
            “Because you and Nathan had direct contact with the Order during the….”  
            “Time of the attack.  Yeah, I get that.  So what do you want me to do about it?”  Ozpin stood up from his desk after Miles said his last piece, and then made a motion which caused several holographic switches to fly to the different members of the room.  
            “We need to make an executive decision here” Ozpin said as he enlarged an extra pair of hologram switchers.  “We will vote on the actions the world council will take in regards to Nathan Grover and the Sons of Aequo.  Very simple decision.  Either leave them be, or bring them in to face justice.  There is no judgement, nor is there truly a wrong answer.  Just the answer we make together.”  Ozpin sat down and cast his vote.  Weiss looked over the options, then cast her vote.  Pyrrha, Sun, Christy, Evan, and Blake cast their votes. Ozpin looked around the room.  
            “Everybody here needs to vote in order to make a decision.”  
            “I don’t see why we just leave them be” Brooklyn said.  “Until they start attacking us directly, they’re actually taking out the bad guys.”  
            “And harming innocents in the process?”  Christy said clearly upset.  “Do you have your head on backwards?”  
            “We let the Branwen tribe run free all they want” Ty said taking a step forward.  “Heck, a lot of Mistral is all over the place in terms of the amounts of bandit tribes and illegal activity.”  
            “Those groups may be great in number,” Pyrrha said interjecting, “but they are still treated as criminals in the eyes of the law.  If any one of them shows their face to those in authority, they would be arrested on the spot.  Nathan is one of the heroes of the battle of Vytal.  There hasn’t been any form of decree stating that he should be stripped of those titles and declared a criminal.  I say we should take action and make him pay for his crimes against Remnant.”  
            “I respect that Pyrrha, but why do we need to vote on this?” Jacob asked walking towards the center.  “Me, Brooklyn, Evan and Ty aren’t exactly anything more than huntsmen.  Why does it matter what we think?”  
            “The world council recognizes the efforts of you all during the battle of Vytal”  Ozpin said.”  
            “So why aren’t the rest of the members of Team RWBY or Team JNPR here then?” asked Evan.  “They played as much of a role in the battle as we did.”  
            “Natalie” everybody stopped as Miles spoke up almost out of the blue.  “You’re surprisingly quiet about this whole ordeal. This _is_ your brother we are talking about.”  Natalie sighed.  This was clearly tough for her.  She curled herself up in a small little ball in her chair.  
            “I’m not sure what to think.  I love my brother and he’s doing good in fighting the Order, but at the same time, it’s hard to justify his actions.”  
            “So make a decision then”  Ozpin said as his voice grew more impatient.  
            “Let me try talking to him.  Maybe I can reach him if he knows how the rest of the world sees him.” Natalie said pulling up a map of the Mistral region.  “He’s kept in touch with me over the course of the last few years, and constantly asks me to join.  If I say I want to join him on his crusade, maybe I’ll get the chance to talk him out of going any further.”  The room fell silent.  Everybody contemplating what Natalie said.  Then Professor Ozpin stood up, pressed a couple buttons on his tablet, and a new slew of buttons flew out to the different members on the conversation.  
            “We shall take a new vote” Ozpin said as he sat back down.  “We either let Natalie take one more chance at reasoning with Nathan Grover, or we let the decision of the World Council be the final decision.  Everyone vote this time.  I mean it.” With that said, everybody actually managed to vote on the issue.  Some voted almost immediately, others took their time in voting.  But everybody did manage to vote.  The results made their way to Professor Ozpin’s monitor.  
            “The final tally is a vote of seven to five in favor of letting Natalie reach out to her brother and try to talk him down from his current actions.” Everybody in attendance started murmuring, and eventually quieted down.  
            “It’s settled then” Ozpin said as he moved all the information off his screen. “Natalie, you will secure position with the sons of Aequo in order to tell your brother that he needs to watch himself if he wishes to not be considered a criminal organization in the eyes of the world council.  You have three months in order to convince him to stand down.  If we have not heard any word from you or Nathan regarding this matter, we will have no choice but to act.  Is that clear?”  Natalie nodded her head softly.  Ozpin nodded back then sat back down in his chair.  
            “We are adjourned”  with that, the holographic projection of Ozpin faded from existence.  Every other projection faded, all except for Miles’ and Natalie’s.  
            “What did you vote?”  Natalie asked looking over at Miles.  
            “Does it even matter?  What’s done is done.  It’s up to you now.”  
            “Look, I know my brother has done….”  
            “Natalie”  Miles spoke in a commanding voice as he stood up.  “My resentment is towards your brother.  Not you.  And if there is even a glimmer of hope that we can get him back on track to him being himself again, then I want you to take that chance no matter how I feel about him.”  The two of them stood silent for a few moments.  Natalie then smiled, a few tears running down the side of her cheek.  
            “I wish we could just go back to those stupid days when you tried to kill me on the first day.”  
            “Yeah”  Miles choked as he tried to hold back tears.  “Me too.”  Natalie deactivated her hologram, leaving Miles alone in the room with his wife.  
            “You okay?” Blake asked placing her hand on his shoulder.  
            “I just hope she knows what she’s doing.”

 

 

 

“Yeah, that’s what’s going down Nathan”  Natalie said through the earpiece.  “We don’t have much time before the world council takes action against you.”  
            “You called at just the right time Natls.”  Nathan said with a grin on his face.  “We just found where their primary stronghold is.”  
            “You serious?”  
            “Yeah.  All their leaders, the old farts we fought years ago, everybody.  We take these guys down, and we win.  We finally avenge Ember.”

“That’s great!  When do we leave?”  
            “I’ve got a shadow airship heading out to your location to pick you up. When we arrive, we go over strategy with Katie, and then we strike.  Be ready.”  
            “I will be” Natalie hung up, leaving Nathan to look out over the ruins of Aequo.  
            “Your old home is truly beautiful” Nathan turned around to see a thin woman with long flowing black hair, a scar over her right eye, dressed in red cloak with orange and red armor carrying a green staff.  
            “Katie.  How did the scouting go?”  
            “See for yourself” Katie handed Nathan her Scroll and pulled up a holographic diagram of a secure compound.  
            “This is fantastic!  How did you manage to get all this information?”  
            “The Order is still running on dated technology.  It’s super easy to get in and pull all the vital files.”  
            “Good stuff.  I’ll plug this into the main computer and make sure we’re ready to go when Natalie gets here.  Ready the troops!  We attack the dawn after my sister arrives!”

“On it boss” Katie replied as Nathan slid down the side of the mountain.  As he disappeared from sight, Katie formed a malicious grin. She walked away from the valley and activated a short range communicator.  A grunt soldier of the Order of the Four Seasons appeared on the holo-disc before her.  
            “Just gave him the plans.  He plans to attack tomorrow at dawn.  Prepare the trap.”  
            “As you command, Lord Imperia.”

 

 

 

_The Previous Generation at a Crossroads_

_Forced to Make a Decision_

_To Determine the Fate_

_Of One of their Dearest Friends._

_They Choose to Try One Last Time_

_To Reason and Reconcile._

_But it May Be Too Late_

_As Everything is Finally in Place_

_As Lord Anima Imperia Has Designed It._


	7. Prelude to War: Anima Imperia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The history behind the new leader of the Order of the Four Seasons.

_A New Master Arises_

_Raised From the Ashes_

_Of the Previous Master_

_Of the Order of the Four Seasons._

_Case of Anima Imperia_

_A New Threat Arises_

_Ready to Face the World of Remnant_

_And All it Has to Throw At Her._

_But Despite The Simple Appearances_

_There is Always a Reason_

_Behind the Madness._

**25 Years Before the Death of Ember**

**The Village of Aequo**

            The village of Aequo was flourishing.  The discussions regarding keeping the village separate from the Kingdom of Vale were going well, more and more people were flocking to the site to start a new life, and the Violet Troupe was starting to prepare for their first ever world tour.  A young girl ran through the streets as she heard the sounds of the mighty drums off in the distance.  When she finally made it to the town square, her face fell a bit to see that there was already a giant crowd surrounding the performers.  
            “Yo!  Anima!” A voice cut through the crowd. The young girl turned her head back and forth and then saw another young girl with cat ears hanging out up inside a tree.  Without missing a second, the young girl ran over and climbed up the tree next to the young cat girl.  
            “Thanks Ember” Anima said as she sat down in the tree next to her friend.  
            “Don’t mention it!”  Ember said focusing her attention back on the stage.  “They’re about to get to the good part!”  As she said this, the drums started going crazy and the trapeze artists started their routine.  Swinging from wire to wire, their movements perfectly in sync with the drums.  Anima and ember watched with awe and excitement. As their routine finished, the two of them just stood there, watching as the troupe started breaking down all their equipment.  As the trucks were starting to get loaded up, the two of them ran over to the main performers.  
            “Can we have your autographs?” the two of them asked at the same time, their faces beaming.  
            “Sure thing kids!”  The performers all smiled and were more than happy to sign the small notebooks that the kids were clutching so closely.  Afterwards, they all left and went on their way for the world tour.  The two girls smiled and started making their way back to their own homes.  
            “That was amazing!” Ember said as she clutched her notebook close to her chest.  
            “I know!” Anima said as she kept flipping through all the signed pages. “I can’t wait until we’re old enough to join the Violet Troupe!”  
            “Me too!”  As they kept walking and laughing, they ended up at the orphanage.  “Well,” Ember said with a sigh, “I guess this is my stop.”  
            “Oh come on.  Come back to my place.  My parents would love to have you.  It’d be fun!”  
            “Sorry, but the matron is really strict about curfew, especially with the summer months coming up and it being light later.  Maybe another night.”  
            “Okay.  Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then!”  They both smiled and waved, and Ember made her way back into the orphanage.  But instead of heading straight home, Anima made her way over to the open window where the matron was standing.  
            “Why hello there young Anima.  Did you have a fun day with Ember?”  
            “I did ma’am.  But do you think that there is any way that she could come over to my place today and have dinner with me?”  
            “Now Anima, I know your parents are very loose about your curfew, but I need to establish a sense of order for these children here.  If I bend the rules for one person, I have to bend the rules for everybody.”  Anima sighed and placed her two primary fingers on her right hand on her temple.  
            “But ma’am, you must have been young once right?  What’s wrong with letting the kids have a little fun during the summer?”  The matron contemplated this for a minute, and then walked over to her desk and grabbed the intercom.  
            “Attention children, curfew tonight is pushed back to 10:00 P.M. tonight. Have some fun in this summer sun.” As soon as she finished, there was a loud cheer from the entire orphanage.  Anima smiled and made her way back to the front.  A few minutes later, Ember came running out the front doors.  
            “Anima!  It’s amazing! The matron decided to let us stay out later tonight!”  
            “That’s awesome!  My parents should be just about ready for dinner.  What do you say we head over there right now?”  
            “Sounds fun!”  The two of them started walking towards Anima’s house, watching as the sun set across the mountains of Aequo.  
            “Hey Ember?”  
            “Yeah?”  
            “What if we both just joined the Violet Troupe right now?  Just left this place behind, learned how to perform together.  Wouldn’t it be great?”  
            “That sounds amazing, but what about your family?”  
            “What about them?”  
            “I mean, they’re your family.  And like it or not, we’re still just kids.  Why not wait until we’re a bit older until we leave here?”  
            “But I want to leave now.  I want to find my true family.”  
            “Your true family?”  
            “Yeah.  My parents love me, sure.  But they don’t support me.  They keep telling me to focus more on my training and not do what I love doing.”  
            “Do they really?”  
            “I mean, they keep saying things like “stop and think about this” or “are you sure this is the best direction to go” and things like that.  I mean, either support me unconditionally or forget it!”  
            “Well, I don’t really have any parents to compare too, but it sounds to me like….”  
            “Just forget it Ember.  Forget I said anything.  Let’s just head over to my parent’s place and get a bite.”  Anima kept walking but Ember stopped.  Anima noticed this and stopped just ahead.  
            “I know that it’s hard to not just go in right now and join the troupe,” Ember said looking back where they came from, “but I feel like there’s more to learn while we’re here.  I want to graduate from school before I head out and see the world.  I want to experience as much as I can with my classmates before heading out into the big open world.  I do want to get to that point however.  I do want to see the world.  So, how about we make a promise?”  
            “A promise?”  
            “What do you say that once we graduate, we’ll join the troupe together. We’ll be almost legal adults, I will have likely grown out of the orphanage, and your parents will have to adhere to your wishes when you want to leave.  We’ll take on the world together and do what we love most. Performing.”  Ember then stretched out her fist for a fist bump.  “You with me Anima?”  Anima smiled, laughed and shook her head at her friends corniness. She then walked over and bumped Ember’s fist.  
            “Promise.”

 

 

 

**15 Years before the Death of Ember**

**The Kingdom of Vacuo**

            The drums were echoing through the streets.  The trapeze artists were swinging back and forth across their lines, some performers even managed to work their way into the crowd to do some different routines.  The crowd applauded as the performers prepared the grand finale.  The final notes of the drums rang out into the sky, and for a brief moment, there was silence.  Followed by thunderous applause.  Everybody took a bow and the troupe started to tear down their setup. Ember and Anima started to pack up their drums and load them on the truck.  
            “Great job out there today!” Ember said smacking Anima on the back. Anima winced following the gesture and rubbed her shoulder.  
            “Thanks.  I just wish it was enough to convince the people up top to give me one of the top lines for the performance.”  
            “Oh come on.  Are you still hung up about that?”  
            “Ember, we’re the best drummers here.  We should be leading the performance, not providing backup beats.”  
            “Maybe, but just about everybody here has had a lot more experience than we do.  They know these routines like the back of their hand.  Heck, maybe even better than that.  We’ve only been doing this for a few years.  Don’t worry.  We’ll get there.”  Ember then held her fist out to Anima. “We promised, didn’t we?”  Anima smiled, and returned the fist bump.  
            “Yeah.  We got this.” Ember grinned and walked away to keep putting away more equipment.  Anima stood there for a few minutes, her mind wandering.  She then jumped down and made a beeline for the directors office.  She walked in and saw him filing all the information for the performers and their roles in the filing cabinet.  
            “Anima!” the director said closing the drawer to the cabinet. “Great job out there today!  You know, so many people audition for our group and do great during said audition, but can’t keep up when it comes time to perform.  But you! You’ve faced every challenge I’ve thrown at you and met it!  At this rate, you’ll be playing at the next level in no time flat!”  
            “Yeah, about that,” Anima said placing her fingers on her temple. “Don’t you think I’m already good enough for the lead position of the organization?”  
            “Well, you are good, but we’ve got a few other performers that have been with the troupe since day one, and it’d be a real jerk move on my part if I simply gave you the lead role and ignored their ability.”  Anima’s eye twitched in annoyance as the director said this, and raised a second hand to her temple.  
            “But you know that I’m better than every one else here.  You should just give me the lead position for the sake of making the Violet Troupe better.”  The director sat down and pondered this for a second.  He then took a look at Anima and saw her hand positions.  
            “Nice try kid.  Ember told me about your Semblance.  I’ll give you props, I’m seriously considering what you’re suggesting, but it’s not going to work on me.”  Anima put her hands down in frustration.  “Look, I’ll let this slide” the director said standing up and placing his hand on Anima’s shoulder.  “You’re young.  You feel like you can take on the world.  I get it. But you can’t just get whatever you want at the drop of a hat.  You gotta work for what you want.  Just keep working hard, and you’ll be fine.”  With that, Anima gave a weak smile then left the office.  She started walking towards the trailers, clearly upset over what had transpired.  She kicked a can in frustration.  The can went flying towards a stranger standing off to the side.  Before Anima could react and warn the stranger, he had grabbed the can out of the air and crushed it to oblivion.  
            “I am so sorry!”  Anima said flustered as she lowered her head to the stranger.  “I’ve just been having a bad day, and I just reacted and I just….”  
            “What an interesting Semblance” the stranger said looking straight at Anima.  “Not exactly mind control, but more manipulation of the mind to bend to a new suggestion.  How do you do it child?”  Anima looked up at the stranger with confusion on her face.  
            “I’m sorry?”  
            “What triggers your ability to sway minds to what you want them to think? Is it the action of placing your fingers on your head?  Or perhaps that’s just something you do to remind yourself that you are using your power. I am truly intrigued.”  Anima raised her head and looked at the stranger, not sure what to think.  
            “Well, to answer your question, I’m not sure what triggers my Semblance.  The fingers are kind of just that, something to remind myself that I’m doing it. Plus, I can’t really sway people to do what I want.  I guide them to mental suggestions in their own mind that line up with what I want. Like if the director had even an inkling of wanting to have me as the lead drummer I could try and make that though become the main focus of his mind.  But he’s the only one who can decide whether or not to act upon it.  I can’t force anybody to obey my mental excavation.”  
            “Mental excavation.  Clever. Since you are bringing up ideas instead of forcing them into peoples heads.  I like that idea.  Perhaps you could be of some use to me.”  
            “Excuse me?”  The stranger then extend his hand out to Anima.  
            “Join me.  There is a greater calling in this world than simply performing for the ants beneath our feet.  Follow me, and I will show you a reality worth fighting for.”  Anima looked at the strangers hand, then turned to leave.  
            “I’m sorry.  I have my own promises to keep.  And I want to keep moving forward.”  
            “Very well.  If you change your mind, the offer is always open.”  
            “How will you know if I did change my mind?  We tour all over the world, and it’s not like you can be everywhere at once.”  
            “Perhaps not physically,” the stranger said as he turned to leave, “but I have a hand in every corner of this world.”  Anima stopped walking away and looked back at the stranger.  
            “Who are you?”  
            “I am somebody who is not to be trifled with.  My name strikes fear in those who know of its weight.  I am Zenoma Mortem, master of the Order of the Four Seasons.  And I will be the god of this world one day.”  Mortem then walked away, leaving Anima to stand there confused.  Not sure what to make of it, she returned to her trailer.  Ember was waiting there already having gotten changed.  
            “Hey there you are!” Ember said as she finished tying her hair into a hairband.  “The boss said we have the rest of the night off.  What do you say we check out the local food!  I hear there’s a great place that takes chunks of ice and crushes them into a near powder-like substance and flavors it with cactus juice!  Come on!”  With that said, Ember made her way out of the trailer and towards town.  Anima smiled and walked into the trailer.  
            “I’ll catch up.  I’m going to shower and change first.  Message me the location on Scroll Maps when you find it!”  Ember gave Anima a thumbs up and continued on her way while Anima got ready for a shower.  As she got everything ready, she looked out the window as the sun began to set on the horizon.  She continued to gaze at it during her entire shower.  As the water ran down her body, she kept thinking back to what Mortem had said to her back there.  Wondering what could possibly be out there that was different and potentially better from her current path?  What did the world offer her outside of the life that she had established here with the Violet Troup?  And was it possible that she could find a new meaning in the world that Mortem was talking about?  She kept pondering this as she made her way to where Ember and the rest of their friends were celebrating their performance.  Ember noticed Anima approaching, grabbed a glass, and made her way over.  
            “Took you long enough slowpoke!” Ember said extending the drink to her friend. “You have GOT to drink this! Everything they said about it was true!” Anima hesitated but did take the drink. Ember noticed her friends hesitation, and put her hand on Anima’s shoulder.  “Hey, what’s wrong?”  
            “Ember, do you really think we’ll get anywhere on the path we’re on right now?”  
            “Where is this coming from?”  
            “Well, I mean, we’re still doing the majority of the grunt work here, we aren’t getting the best parts, do you really think that this is the best path for us?”  
            “Anima, what’s wrong?”  Ember asked guiding them both to an open table.  “Isn’t this what we always dreamed of?  Touring the world with the Violet Troupe, playing music, just being the best we could be?  What happened?”  Anima pondered what Ember said, then perked up.  
            “Sorry.  Long day. Maybe this will make me feel better.” Anima then took a big gulp of her drink and almost coughed it right back up.  “Whoo!  That stuff is strong!”  Ember laughed as Anima tried to regain her composure after taking a drink. Afterwards, Anima laughed with Ember as they both continued to drink the night away.  They didn’t talk about what Anima brought up previously, they just continued on with their evening.  However, that lingering question of what if continued to sit in the back on Anima’s mind for the next several years, and all it did was grow and grow.

 

 

 

**10 Years before the Death of Ember**

**The Village of Aequo**

            Anima was standing by the cliffs overlooking the sprawling landscape just beyond the valley of Aequo.  So much green vegetation, a lot of wild creatures running throughout the plains, and so much possibility.  She had tried to shake off the thoughts that she had, but she found she could no longer keep walking this path.  She smiled, and made her way over to the main office where the headmaster was stationed.

 

            Ember finished practicing a run of music, and put her drumsticks away.  She started making her way back to her trailer and saw a group of Troupe performers training with who looked like one of the locals.  She walked over and saw that it was the local hero huntress Traci Grover leading a group of performers in combat lessons.  There had been a lot more Grimm attacks recently, so the Troupe leaders decided it would be best for everyone to understand at the very least the basics of combat.  Some of the performers struggled, but people like Ember managed to pick up on it super quickly.  Alongside that, Traci had even asked her to come over a couple times to learn some more tricks in order to help protect others.  Ember decided that she shouldn’t bother Traci while teaching the others so she kept walking back to her trailer.  As she was making her way towards the trailer however, she saw Anima shaking hands with the headmaster.  
            “Sorry to see you go kid” the headmaster said.  “You were one of the best we’ve ever had.”  
            “I know” Anima said with clear anger in her voice.  The headmaster turned back inside and Anima turned to leave. But as she did, she saw Ember standing there looking at her with shock and horror.  
            “Anima, what did he say?”  
            “Rats” Anima said as she turned to leave.  “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”  
            “Anima!  What’s going on?!”  Anima didn’t pay any heed to her friend.  She just kept walking towards her trailer.  Ember ran over and grabbed Anima’s arm, stopping her from progressing.  
            “Let me go Ember.”  
            “Why?  Why are you giving up?  Didn’t we promise?  Didn’t we say that we would do this together?”  
            “Perhaps.  But we were just kids then.  Now we’re stuck in a rut.  We haven’t progressed at all during our performances, we’re still performing below the top seats in the band, and it’s the same thing over and over again.  I’m destined for greater things Ember.  And I’m going to go find them.”  
            “You’re giving up just because you haven’t become the top performer yet? We’re still learning Anima! We…..”  
            “It’s been over seven years Ember!  And we’ve barely progressed!  We should be the ones leading the performances, not these old farts!  We should be at the top!  Well you know what?  I’m done sitting around waiting for nothing to happen.  I’m going to take up my own destiny and forge my own path.”  
            “So you’re giving up just because you aren’t the head honcho around here? Anima, Vale wasn’t built in a day. You need to be patient.  I mean, look at me!  I’m in the same boat as you but I’m still willing to keep learning. This is what we love doing!  And I’m not going to just give up because I’m not in the hall of fame after only a few years!”  Anima, as if she didn’t even pay any attention to what Ember said, turned and extended her hand.  
            “Join me Ember.  I know somebody who could help us.  We could be a part of a greater purpose and become even greater than we could be if we stayed here.  We could change the world.”  
            “But what about our promise?  What about our friendship?”  
            “This can be the next level of our friendship if you just follow me.” Ember looked at Anima’s hand, then back at her friend.  Tears formed in her eyes as she looked and saw that Anima’s eyes were no longer the bright and energetic eyes she had known all her life, but rather cold and self-centered.  She turned away.  
            “You just want the easy way out.  You just want to be at the top right away.  You’ve always been like this.  You’ve had parents who pampered you and people who always supported you. And when you found out that it takes constant hard work to move forward in the world, you give up.  I hoped that this would be different.  But it’s clear what your desires are.  If you want to give up and take the easy way out, fine. I am going to continue working hard and chasing our…no.  My dream. I will continue moving forward while you give up and take the easy way out.  Goodbye Anima.”  With that, Ember ran off, struggling to fight back tears.  Anima seemed unfazed by all of this, went back to her trailer, gathered her belongings, and started making her way westward to Vacuo, where she knew he would be waiting.

 

 

 

**5 Years before the Death of Ember**

**The Wastelands of Vacuo**

            Anima spun her staff around and loaded a fire dust crystal into the cartridge. She then pointed the end of her staff and flames erupted towards the charging mole crab in the sand.  The creature shielded itself from the incoming attack, but in that brief moment, Anima rushed forward, engaged a dagger-like blade at the bottom of her staff, and ran it right through the head of the animal.  The mole crab shrieked for a brief second, but then keeled over dead.  Anima then pulled her weapon out and cleaned the blade. There was a clapping behind her. She simply smiled and continued to clean her weapon.  
            “Kind of surprised you decided to come all the way out here old man” Anima said turning to face Lord Mortem.  “Last I heard, Lord Memoriare was following up on a lead on the potential of the location of the Dragon Grimm and you were going to follow up with him on that.”  
            “All in good time.  The Dragon will be mine soon enough” Lord Mortem said admiring Anima’s handiwork. “I must say, I am impressed.  It takes great skill to recognize the range and overarching abilities of ones semblance to reach an even higher peak. Not in a million years would have I suspected that your mind manipulation was also a form of telekinesis that you could use to manipulate dust and other elements.  Very impressive child.”  
            “If you don’t mind my asking Lord Mortem, why just the Dragon Grimm? There are plenty of reports of leviathan-type Grimm across all of remnant.  What makes this one so special?”  
            “The fact that this creature not only had to be sealed away by Ozpin and the maidens of the past, but it also has the ability to spawn Grimm at will, that is the key to finding the path to the Dark Realm.  And the next step in the plan to bring all of the members of the council together as the new rulers of this world.”  
            “And yet I don’t find myself at that table.  Why am I not a part of your council Lord Mortem?  You know I’m better than any single one of them.  And for goodness sake, you plan on giving a seat to the representative of the White Fang?  I’ve heard the next in line for the seat is just a child.  You truly plan on giving a fool like that godhood?”  
            “You speak of the Taurus family?  It is true, young Adam is a bit young for a position of such power, but he is loyal, which will benefit us in the long game.  Plus, it is important that the Order keeps good faith with the White Fang and the Faunus who align with that particular cause.  Their numbers boost our already growing army. I have no desire to loose that asset anytime soon.”  
            “So what?  I’m to play second fiddle to a child?”  Anima said growing more and more angry.  “I followed you on this path because you promised me something greater.  Something more than I could even imagine.  But here I am, just toiling away out here in the desert for….”  
            “Enough child” Zenoma said exerting a powerful force.  Anima backed down almost immediately.  “Something that you have yet to truly grasp is how to watch and learn how the long game is played and what that means for the rest of the world. While it is true, the current members of my council will gain a substantial amount of power, you on the other hand have a much more crucial role.”  
            “Let me guess,” Anima said as she pulled out her weapon.  “Stand on the sidelines and follow your orders until the day I die.  I’m…..”  
            “You are to be in charge of the Olympus has Fallen protocol.”  Anima fell silent as Lord Mortem said this. She put her weapon away and started to listen with a more intent ear.  “Even in the most perfect world, there are people who will resist such a world.  And when we do take over, resistance will be at its strongest.  That will be the turning point between victory and defeat for the Order.  And in case we are defeated,” he fell silent, but continued.  “In case I am defeated, you are to spearhead the process in which we reclaim our lost power in this world.”  
            “Me?  Why me?”  
            “Depending on how far along in the plan we are when we do finally make our move, the world will be in a very fragile state.  Everything will be shifting and far more likely to fall back to a world where we don’t exist.  That’s where you come in.  Your ability to influence people to our cause will be instrumental in ensuring that we do not fade into nothingness.  You will lead the Order in my stead, and will enact plans to make sure we survive depending on what will happen and what will transpire.”  
            “How could I possibly prepare for all of this?  There are too many variables.  Too many possibilities.”  
            “I know.  That’s why we have help.”

 

 

 

**Vacuo Headquarters of the Order of the Four Seasons.**

            Lord Mortem placed his hand on a touch panel, and it swung open to reveal a giant computer surrounded by piles of old books and tomes.  The room had a very dingy smell, almost like a library that hadn’t kept their books up to code very well.  Lord Mortem gestured Anima to follow and they walked over to the primary computer console.  Lord Mortem then typed in a code phrase and the computer came to life.  From there, several screens lit up and were displaying all kinds of information.  
            “What is this?” Anima asked wide eyed.  
            “This, is the Monolith” Lord Mortem exclaimed raising his arms up to capture the grandeur of the system.  “It has information from Remnant’s first day to its current day. Information that is critical to how the Order functions.”  
            “How does this tie into the Order?”  
            “Millenia ago, the Order of the Four Seasons was created as a log.  A list of all the Maidens that walked the earth, each and every one of their incarnations.  From the first four sisters to the heroes who fought in the Great War.  They all are logged here.”  
            “All of these old books are lists of Maidens?  How does that help us?”  
            “Save your questions for after my explanation child.  This log was created by none other than Professor Ozpin, the son of the great Wizard who gave the Maidens their powers.  He had hoped that it would never let their memories be forgotten even if time itself would forget they even existed.  However, as time progressed, Ozpin began to neglect his quest to keep this log updated, so the Order began to meander.  They then decided to gather as much information as possible about the world at the time and logged it all here.  From the experiments of the Wizard to the dimensional rifts created by the daughter Salem, everything was recorded.  And once it was all recorded, they then decided to take that information and use it to benefit themselves.  With all the knowledge they now possessed, they could easily manipulate the kingdoms of the world to their whim.  Be it with haunting information from Remnant’s past, or information about their present that only the Order knew about.  From there, we grew like a great tree, planting roots in every corner of the world until the rulers of the world were nothing more than leaves on a branch that fed the Order the information it needed to survive. And now, we are here.  The Monolith has the recordings of all information gathered, as well as another unique feature.  It has the ability to predict the future.”  
            “How is that even possible?  I have heard of people with Semblance’s that involve foresight into the future, but nothing like this.”  
            “The computer takes data from everything it has learned from the past, and uses an algorithm to create the most likely scenarios that will lead to the future.  For example, if the Kingdom of Vacuo attempts to make a move in terms of reclaiming a lost oasis, the Monolith can tell us if they will be successful given the information of all the old oasis’ in Vacuo and their impact on the land as a whole. There are even old logs about ancient magics that can be performed to do all sorts of things.  Spells to open doors into the Dark Realm, enchantments that can bring back the dead, even curses that can hurt the most dangerous of foes when they least expect it.  Each of these can play a role in how the Order move forward in the world of Remnant.”  
            “Well if this thing has all the answers, why do you need to scour the world for where the Dragon was sealed away?  Or where the other Maidens are for that matter?”  
            “Not that simple.  First of all, when Ozpin stopped paying attention to the Order, that meant we stopped getting direct information from him.  So anything he did in secret was lost to the sands of time.  Alongside that, some of the old parchments are incomplete, having rotted away from age.  So that means not everything is completely accurate.  As a result, we must go off the Monolith’s best calculations and also go off old legends.  And that’s where you come in young one.  If the protocol is ever initiated, you must use this machine in order to successfully generate the best possibly outcomes to ensure our survival.  No matter what happens, we look to you to make sure we will one day rule the world.”  Anima, still trying to come to grips with everything that Lord Mortem had told her, faced him and fell to one knee.  
            “I am yours to command my lord.”

 

 

 

**5 Years Later**

**The Fall of Aequo**

            Anima never thought that she would ever see her old home again.  Let alone that she would see it this way.  Burning, everything falling apart.  Nothing surviving.  And that was what they were there to ensure.  That nothing else survived.  Lord Memoriare had called in that there were some survivors that managed to see more than they should have.  And while Memoriare was merciful enough to let the children live without the memories of what they saw, Adam Taurus was not so forgiving.  While he did concede to the power that Lord Memoriare carried, he did request the presence of several agents to ensure no other survivors remained.  As Anima continued to walk through the burning remains of the village, she heard something.  The sounds of a struggle.  She ran over and saw several Order and White Fang soldiers being knocked back by a powerful force.  Not stopping, Anima saw the remains of a burning house, and several soldiers being knocked back by a warrior who seemed to be wielding what looked like billy clubs. The young Adam Taurus rushed forward, but the warrior made quick work of him, dodging his blade and slamming him to the ground with her right hand.  As Adam fell, the flames seemed to spark back up, revealing the strangers face.  The light crept up, and when Anima saw the face that stood before her, she clenched her fist in anger.  The stranger also looked up, but when she saw Anima’s face, her own face turned paler than snow.  
            “Anima?”  
            “You should have joined me when you had the chance, Ember.”  Without saying another word, Anima rushed toward Ember and they started fighting.  Ember didn’t do much outside of defend at first, she was still in shock at what she was seeing in front of her.  But that faded away quickly, and she began to fight back.  
            “How could you?” Ember yelled.  “How could you?!”  Anima didn’t say anything in return, she just continued to fight forward.  She continued to fight without regret or remorse. They kept going back and forth. But then, in a brief moment, Ember flung her weapons forward, hoping that she could ricochet them off some nearby debris and knock Anima off her feet.  However, Anima anticipated this, and released a fire dust cartridge she had stored in her staff, creating a ring of fire that burned the clubs before they even flew past her.  Ember tried to react and defend herself, but before she knew it, Anima had done three swift moves.  One to knock her off her feet, two to stab her in the abdomen to break her aura, and three to stab her in the heart, ending the battle.  Despite the extremely painful strike, Ember muffled her voice to try and mask her pain.  Anima smiled a sick smile and leaned in and whispered in her ear.

            “Putting on a tough act for me?  Such a pity Ember, to know that all this time, you should have sided with me.” Ember, coughing up blood, managed to let out one last sentence.

            “I…….protected…….them……from you…….” And with those final words, Ember’s life faded from existence.  Anima removed her weapon from her former friends limp body.  Adam slowly got up and walked over to Anima.

“I will inform Lord Mortem of your kill.  He will be…..”  
“This was your kill Adam.”

“I’m sorry?”

“This was your kill.  That is what you will tell Lord Mortem.”  Adam seemed

confused by this,   but didn’t question it.  He simply made his way down to the basement and continued his search with the other soldiers.  Anima took a knee next to the corpse of Ember, and whispered,  
            “You were trying to protect something, weren’t you?  Well, I promise you this.  One day, I will find whatever it is you were so bent on protecting, and I will destroy it with my own bare hands.”

 

 

 

**Paths Following the Fall**

**Fall of Aequo - Atlesian Revolution.**

            After Aequo fell, Anima continued to work in her role of serving the Order in the shadows.  She kept working with the Monolith and all the information it had to offer.  During this time, Lord Mortem continued to put his plan into motion.  The original plan was to enact the plan in the Kingdom of Atlas and cause the world to crumble from there.  However, when Anima got word that Lord Mortem was speeding up the plan to attack the world during the Restoration Tournament, she quickly started to make preparations. She sealed off the room of the Monolith, only tuning in through Order sanction frequencies to keep tabs on the outside world.  She did not participate in either the Second Battle of Beacon nor the Battle of Vytal. During this time, she calculated what was happening.  What it must be like for the members of the council to finally achieve godhood, and how anyone on earth could possibly stop Lord Mortem and his armies.  However, on the day of the Battle of Vytal, Anima stopped receiving information altogether.  She was concerned, and almost considered destroying the entire computer room with her inside so that no one could ever find the information stored here. However, she did finally receive word once the battle ended.  It was a transmission from Lord Aeris declaring that the Olympus has Fallen Protocol had been initiated.  Confused, afraid, and concerned, Anima transmitted the coordinates to the surviving members of the Order’s council.  Once Anima was caught up to speed, she took this information and plugged it into the Monolith and let it do its work.  Once the algorithm was complete, Anima began enacting plans in order to ensure the Orders survival.  First, when she heard of the Vacuo uprising, she recognized an opportunity to bring more soldiers into the fold.  After Jaques Schnee requested the cease-fire between all the other Kingdoms and Sienna Kahn planned on attacking at night, she had an inside man tip off the armies that the White Fang was attacking.  Once the attack failed, the Order scooped up the remaining stragglers and added a much needed boost to their armies.  After that, they began trying to figure out what they could do to try and gain even more power.  Anima saw an opportunity when she got word that Whitley Schnee was upset with his father’s actions regarding the Vacuo Uprising.  Using this anger, Anima planted herself as the therapist for Whitley and kept stirring up ideas in his head about killing his father and taking over the company.  While it did take some time, Whitley finally gave in to his darkest thoughts and launched the Atlesian Revolution.  The Order remained a neutral party for this conflict, because Anima knew the true prize would come after the war.  When the four Kingdoms rose victorious, Anima did everything in her power to try and slip in suitors that could take over the company from Weiss, ultimately giving the Order access to the largest amount of Dust in all of Remnant.  But unfortunately for them, they failed to get someone up at the top alongside Weiss.  Anima was ready to create an even longer and more elaborate plan to try and ensure the Order’s survival, but then news reached her ears.  News about one of the heroes from the Battle of Vytal who was from Aequo, starting to show signs of inner struggles and demons.  Anima saw this opportunity and took it with vigor.

 

 

 

**Two Years before the Graduation of Team BEAT**

**The Island of Patch**

            Nathan walked into the office, his therapist sitting in her usual chair.  
            “Hey Katie” Nathan said, his voice sounding very tired.  Katie smiled, and motioned towards the empty chair.  
            “Take a seat and we’ll get started.”  Nathan obliged, and laid down on the chair.  “Now, what has changed since we last spoke?”  
            “Not much to be honest with you” Nathan said running his hands through his hair.  “I mean, I am happy with my life right now, but I just feel like there’s something missing. Like I have some kind of purpose and I can’t possibly reach it with the current path that I’m on.”  
            “I see.  And where do you think this issue stems from.”  
            “I don’t know.  Maybe from me?  This is my life after all.”  
            “I don’t think it’s that at all” Katie said placing her fingers on her temple and looking directly at Nathan.  “I think, the world is not accepting you and your own personal desires, and you should make them accept your desires or cast them out of your life.” Nathan pondered this, then a scowl formed across his face.  
            “Yeah, you’re right!” Nathan said as he almost leapt out of the chair. “All I want to do is what I think is best for the world, and all the world tells me to do is sit down and give up! Well you know what?  I’m going to ignore the world and do what I think, no. What I KNOW is right!  Forget what my friends and my own family is telling me! If they don’t supports me, they aren’t truly my family!”  
            “There you go” Katie said with a sick smile.  “Now you are recognizing the true root of the problems that surround you.  And you must cut them all off.  Forge your own path.  Forget what others say or think.  Forget what happens in the wake of your actions.  You must do what you think is best no matter the cost.”  Nathan smiled alongside Katie at this revelation.  
            “Thanks Katie.  You always know how to get to the real root of my problems.  Same time next week?”  
            “I look forward to it.”  Nathan got up and made his way out of the office.  Anima then stood up, smiled, and walked over to her communicator.  She then typed in a message regarding the updates that she had recently made with Nathan.  
            “Plug this information into the Monolith.  It might be a few more years, but he’s almost ready.”

 

 

 

**Day of Reckoning**

**The Wastelands of Vacuo**

            As the airships began to circle the compound, Nathan and Natalie both started suiting up for the upcoming battle.  
            “All right!” Nathan spoke into his helmet microphone.  “Everybody knows the plan.  We get in, we take names, no one for the Order leaves alive.  No prisoners, no wounded, this ends today. Are we ready?!”  There was a loud cheer throughout the airship as Nathan said these words.  Natalie walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.  
            “Gotta say bro, you’ve gotten better at these big speeches.”  Nathan smiled in return, and offered Natalie a fist for a fist bump.  
            “For Ember” he said.  Natalie smiled and bumped his fist.  
            “For Ember.”  They both then returned to their proper stations, while Anima looked on with a sick smile on her face.  
            “You failed Ember.”

 

 

 

_All the Pieces Are in Place_

_We Have Reached the Boiling Point_

_Everything Will Change_

_At a Point We Can’t Take_

_Anymore._


	8. Prelude to War: A Point We Can't Take Anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Day of Reckoning has Arrived. The War of Seasons is about to begin.

_The Day of Reckoning_

_Has Arrived_

_The Peace Won Years Ago_

_Will Crumble and Fade._

_The Pieces_

_Have All Been Properly Placed_

_To Be Knocked Down._

**The Kingdom of Vacuo**

            Sun was going over the different forms that needed to be filled out for a Dust shipment for his students at Shade Academy.  There was an upcoming mission out into the wastelands and he wanted to make sure that everybody was more than prepared to defend themselves at a moments notice.  But as he was finishing up the forms, he noticed a commotion going on just outside the city gates.  He tried to see what was going on.  A large crowd had formed at one of the entry points, but it didn’t look like a Grimm attack. Suddenly, his Scroll started buzzing which he picked up super quickly.  
            “This is Sector 2814 Patrolman calling Headmaster.  You there sir?”

            “Hey Hal,” Sun said as he continued to look out at the ever growing crowd.  “Care to tell me why everybody is all bunching up like bananas just inside your gate?”

            “Sir, we need to call a medical team! We have seriously injured here!  She needs a hospital!”  
            “Hal, what have I said about playing the pronoun game?  Who’s she?”  
            “Natalie Grover sir.  She’s in really bad shape.”

 

 

 

**4 Hours Later**

Christy came flying through the doors to the medical ward at Shade Academy like there was no tomorrow. As soon as Sun found out that it was Natalie that was in critical condition, he made sure to alert Professor Ozpin who in turn alerted the members of Team NEMN who also alerted their friends and family of what had happened.  Christy caught wind of this news due to the fact that she was in a meeting with Professor Ozpin and heard about Natalie’s condition almost immediately. She then took it upon herself to fly out to Vacuo and help speed up Natalie’s treatment.  Ozpin had managed to alert the medical staff of Christy’s arrival, so once she came in clearly not willing to take no as an answer, the staff directed her to Natalie’s room, where Christy found her in really bad shape. The doctors had managed to do enough to keep her stable, but her wounds were incredibly severe.  Her left eye had a huge gash across it, miraculously missing the eye, there were several stab wounds across her legs and deep in her shoulders, and her old wound from when Zenoma Mortem killed her had been re-opened.  It was a miracle that she managed to stay alive for this long.  Christy took a deep breath, and then poured every last ounce of her aura and healing powers into Natalie’s body.  While Christy’s abilities had improved quite a bit over the years since she was a student, Natalie’s wounds were so extensive that Christy decided it was better to be safe rather than sorry.  A few minutes passed as Christy’s Aura slowly enveloped Natalie’s body, healing her wounds. As the process neared completion, Natalie shot up with a start.  Screaming at the top of her lungs a single word,  
            “NATHAN!”

 

 

 

**2 Hours Later**

“What else can you tell us Christy?”  Pyrrha asked as she looked over the medical information that Shade had provided for everybody.  Everybody was in another holographic conference call.  Ty, Jacob and Brooklyn were sitting in with Weiss and Neptune this time as there had been a previous call to Atlas they had responded too, and Evan was on Menagerie with Miles and Blake helping with another mission they had on their hands.  Yang, Ember, Gray, Arri, and Hera were also in on this call due to the implications of what was going on.  
            “Not much” Christy said as she sent out another set of information as the doctors kept giving them to her.  “After Natalie’s initial outburst screaming Nathan’s name, she fell unconscious. After a few more minutes, she did manage to wake up, but her mind was all over the place.  Not really seeming like she knew what was going on or where she was.”

            Professor Ozpin stood up and looked over the details regarding how she was found at the gates of Vacuo.  “Did she have any information about what she was doing?  Perhaps a clue as to where she was or what had happened?”  
            “Well that’s just the thing,” Christy said creating a wide display of all the available information like a web of paper.  “She says the last thing she remembers is boarding an airship with her brother to destroy the Order, but everything after that is a blank.”  The room fell silent as Weiss looked at Yang with a sort of concerned look.  
            “Don’t look at me” Yang said holding up her hands.  “I haven’t seen or spoken to my estranged husband in years.  This is the first I’m hearing about all of this.”  
            “It’s true,” Jacob said walking towards the center alongside Christy to look over the data.  “Keeping the Xiao Long’s in the dark about all of this was kind of a jerk move Ozpin. Heck, even keeping the Grovers in the dark wasn’t the best idea.  We should have at least told them what was going on and what Natalie was trying to accomplish with her brother.”  
            “Hindsight is twenty-twenty Mr. Strohl,” Ozpin said pinching his forehead. “What we need to do now is determine what exactly caused this loss of memory for Natalie if we are to figure out what exactly happened out there in the wastelands.”  
            “You sure it’s not just the stress of what happened is blocking that memory for Natalie?” Ty asked also making his way towards the web of information. “Maybe once she’s caught her breath she could recall everything that happened to her.”  
            “I doubt it” Miles said walking forward throwing up a mugshot amongst the web.  “This has Vinculum Memoriare written all over it.  He’s removed memories from me, Nathan, heck, even Brooklyn has been affected by him in the past.”  The conference fell silent for a minute as everybody pondered this information.  Evan then looked over the mugshot himself, as well as the information regarding Natalie’s condition.  
            “If that’s the case,” Evan said pulling up a map of Vacuo and the surrounding wastelands, “then it stands to reason that Natalie and Nathan found the Order’s hideout, but failed to defeat them.  Somehow, Natalie managed to escape and make her way back here, surviving on sheer will power alone in order to get back to civilization.”  
            “But that doesn’t make sense” Blake said stepping forward.  “If the Order had Natalie and used Memoriare to erase her memories, why would they let her go?  Why go to all the trouble of erasing her memories and releasing her instead of just killing her?”  Before anybody could ponder this, Jaune walked forward, bringing up a livestream feed to the rest of the call.  
            “This started just a few seconds ago across all major communication networks” Jaune said sending out individual screens to everybody on the call.  “You need to see this.”  The livestream feed was an image of a red flag emblazoned with the sigil of the Order of the Four Seasons all in black.  There wasn’t much else at first, until a single woman walked in front of the flag.  
            “To the world of Remnant, I am Lord Anima Imperia, master of the Order of the Four Seasons.  You may have thought us dead and destroyed after the battle of Vytal decades ago. But like the seasons, following the death of winter, we rise up once more with the spring.  For years, we have been preparing, making sure that all was in its proper place for our return.  Building our forces, increasing our influence, improving our weaponry, regaining all that we lost decades ago.  And now, we are ready.  You may have also heard of the so called “Sons of Aequo”, a group of extremists who thought they were crippling us and bringing us to the brink.  But in truth, they were playing right into our hands. They captured pieces that played a larger role in recruiting new members into the folds of the Order from the prison system of the Four Kingdoms, increasing our armies tenfold.  Even as we speak, massive prison riots are breaking out as our soldiers break out those who are loyal to our cause to join our ranks in our new mission.”  Professor Ozpin, Pyrrha, Weiss, Sun, and Blake all checked their respective Scrolls to see if these claims held any weight, which turned out they did.  
            “But that is merely the tip of the iceberg” Lord Imperia continued.  “I did not simply do this stunt to prove to the world that we, who have been branded criminals, brought more criminals into the folds of our organization.  No, we have an even greater message to send to the world.”  As Lord Imperia said this, the flag retreated into the ceiling, revealing something that made everybody in the conference all either gasp or scream in horror.  Nathan Grover, beaten, battered and bloody chained up to a stone wall, struggling to break free of his bonds.  
            “Following the Battle of Vytal years ago, several students were granted medals of honor recognizing them as war heroes, and were granted all the rights of war heroes.  Including the fact that if they were ever executed by man and not creatures of Grimm, it was an act of war.”  As Lord Imperia said this, a new figure entered the frame.  A tall figure with long hair wearing black armor, and a mask with purple and white stripes that formed a spiral that lead to a single black dot in the center of the mask around where the nose would be.  There were no eye slits in the mask, suggesting that this mask could still see in all directions despite it having no clear visual capabilities.  This new figure also carried a large sword shaped like a tuning fork.  Lord Imperia smiled a sick smile as the new person placed the tuning fork sword at Nathan’s neck.  “Well then, this is the Order’s official declaration of war against the Four Kingdoms of Remnant.  Lord Tenebris.  Do it.” Without hesitation, the figure that was addressed as Lord Tenebris took the sword, and beheaded the body with a single strike.  No one could truly describe all the emotions that were a part of that conference call. While some like Weiss and Pyrrha clasped their hands over the mouth with tears streaming down their face, others like Christy and Ty let out blood curdling screams.  Others such as Yang, Brooklyn, Evan and Jacob found no words or sounds could escape their lips, only tears running down their faces.  Ember fell to her knees and hands, tears falling from her eyes as she punched the floor in anger.  Gray passed out from the sight of what happened.  Arri ran over to her cousin’s side and held her tightly while Hera covered her ears and tried to tell herself it wasn’t happening.  Miles simply stood there, his face completely white at what he had just seen.  Lord Imperia smiled as grunt soldiers cleaned up the mess behind her.  
            “We will not accept any negotiations or discussions of a cease-fire” Lord Imperia said as the flag was lowered back down to hide the carnage.  “This will not end until the Four Kingdoms are burned to the ground and the Order reigns supreme.”  The transmission ended, leaving everybody to try and respond to what had just happened.  Their minds knew what they had to do in order to protect the world, but their bodies and their hearts were stuck, unable to move in light of what they had just witnessed.

 

As the camera cut out , Lord Imperia made her way over to the bridge of the airship that she commanded.  A large battleship that they managed to steal from the Kingdom of Atlas and then mass produced in order to give themselves an edge in the coming battles.  She looked back at where Lord Tenebris had struck, and saw that the mess was already cleaned up.  She smiled and saw Lord Tenebris standing over where he had done what he had done.  
            “Do you regret your actions Lord Tenebris?”  Anima asked placing her hands behind her back.  “Declaring war like that….”  
            “I regret nothing” Lord Tenebris said putting his sword away.  “Nathan Grover was weak, so I destroyed him.”  
            “Indeed he was.”  Lord Imperia said with a sick smile.  “But his name is an important one in the logs of history, so it was important that the whole world watch him die.  So that they knew they have no hope.  You have done well, Lord Ferish Tenebris.”  Lord Tenebris turned towards Lord Imperia, and fell to one knee.

            “I serve only you Lord Imperia.  No one else.” Lord Imperia smiled at this, and turned her attention back to the bridge.

            “It’s time to open the final door.”

 

 

 

_The Day of Reckoning_

_Brings Chaos and Destruction_

_A Crushing Blow to Those Who Fought Before_

_Now Facing an Old Threat_

_Who Refuses to Stop_

_Until Each and Every One of the Old Heroes_

_And All the People of the Old World_

_Lie Beneath the Rule of the Order_

**RWBY**

**War of Seasons**


	9. Episode 1:Chapter 1: No Time to Process

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter of the first episode of the War of Seasons.

**2 Days after the Day of Reckoning**

**Beacon Academy**

            As the airship landed and the doors opened, Miles and Blake stepped out to see Christy standing there with Beanie right beside her.  The two of them and started exchanging hugs, Christy was clearly fighting back some tears.  
            “How you holding up professor?” Miles said giving Christy a quick hug.  
            “We’ve known each other for so long and I’ve told you several times. Just call me Christy” she said trying to hide the fact that she was struggling.  “I’m hanging in there.  How are you after everything that’s happened?”  
            “What does it matter?”  Miles said in a surprisingly cold voice.  “He’s gone. We see friends and comrade die in this line of work.  We need to move on.”  Christy was taken aback at Miles’ cold reaction as he immediately started making his way towards Professor Ozpin’s office.  Christy, with a concerned look, turned to Blake and asked,

            “Is he okay?  I haven’t seen him like this since our first year.”  Blake sighed, and started walking towards the office as well.  
            “He blames himself” Blake said rubbing her eyes to wash out some of the tears.  
            “What do you mean?” Christy asked as she had to jog a little bit to catch up.  
            “Well, the night after it all happened, like all of us, he was busy trying to mobilize troops and different factions across the world in case the Order was ready to attack us right then and there.  Then when it turned out they were just getting ready like we are, he finally got a chance to breathe, and he kept talking about how it was all his fault. He kept saying if maybe he had joined Nathan and his crusade, it might have been possible that he wouldn’t have gone down the path that he went on, maybe he could have saved him from doing what he did all these years.  This that and the other, just trying to cope with what happened.”  Christy sighed, and placed her hand on Blake’s shoulder.  
            “And how have you been dealing with all of this?”  
            “I don’t know” Blake said with a sigh.  “But I’m not that important.  I need to be there for what remains of his family.  Aurora and Gray loved to play together, and Yang is my best friend.  I can’t even imagine what they’re going through right now.  And poor Ember….”  Everybody fell silent after this.  Beanie didn’t have anything to contribute to this conversation, so he just kept walking alongside his friends.  When they reached the elevator to Ozpin’s office, still nobody talked.  Beanie simply pressed the button and they all rose up to Professor Ozpin’s office.  The doors opened, and they stepped into the office.  Professor Ozpin looked up from his desk, his fingers pressed together, his eyes and body showing clear signs of fatigue and lack of sleep.  He slowly got up, almost tripping over himself as he tried to go over and greet his guests.  
            “You….” Ozpin tried to speak, but clearly his voice was gone as well. After the declaration by the Order, he had been talking and planning nonstop with the other kingdoms of Remnant. He managed to grab a cup of old coffee and drink some of it to clear his throat.  “You are the first to arrive” he said as he limply shook their hands.  He then slowly went back to his desk.  “Ironwood….is in the conference holodeck.  He’s expecting you.  I’ll wait here and greet the others.”  Miles, Blake and Christy nodded their heads and made their way into the hologram room.  Beanie stayed behind and walked over to Ozpin.  
            “You’re spent beyond reason” Beanie said placing his hands on Ozpin’s desk. “And I have a sinking feeling that we’re going to need you in the fights to come.  Get some sleep.  I’ll help get everybody else here taken care of.”  
            “I can’t.  I’m the oldest being in this world, and I need to be there to help make sure this world is protected.”  
            “Yes, but that just furthers my point.  We need you to be ready for battle, not ready for a strategy meeting. Get some rest.  I’ll take care of things.”  Professor Ozpin looked at Beanie, trying to see if he would flinch.  But when he didn’t, Ozpin simply got up, grabbed his cane, and made his way over to a small room he had built into his office where he could sneak naps and meals if he had to work late nights.  When the door closed, Beanie sighed and made his way back to the elevator to meet the next group arriving at the docks.

 

            As the airship carrying Brooklyn, Ty, and Jacob continued on its approach, Ty looked out the window and saw the full grand scale of Beacon.  
            “Can’t believe this is how we get to see everybody again” he said making sure that he had everything together before they disembarked.  Jacob sighed as he looked over a picture of all of them together back on Patch years ago.  
            “I just wish we could have everybody here” Jacob said as he put his scroll away.  “It would definitely make this a whole lot less painful.”  Brooklyn punched the side of the airship in frustration.  
            “Just about anything would be less painful if what happened to Nathan never happened” she said as she grabbed her belongings as the airship touched down. “What matters is that we do what we can to avenge him.”  The doors opened, and they stepped out to see Beanie welcoming Evan as his airship had touched down close to theirs.  They walked up to each other, greeted one another, and then made their way to the top of the tower where they were directed to the holographic conference room. As they made their way in, they say General Ironwood with several other leaders and members of the world council all talking strategy when it came to trying to figure out the first move that the Order was going to take.  When the five of them joined the call, Ironwood turned to greet them.  
            “Ah.  Glad you finally made it” Ironwood said as he saluted them.  “Beanie, when are Mrs. Rose and Ms. Xiao Long arriving?”  
            “They’ll be here shortly” Beanie said as he prepared to leave the room. “Ruby and Yang are travelling together, and there will be one other person joining them.”

 

 

            “You can’t possibly be serious” Ember said as she piloted their personal airship towards the docks.  Her mother, Yang, sat in the passenger seat while her aunt Ruby continued to sit in the back in silence.  
            “Young lady, I am not going to lose you as well” Yang said while gritting her teeth.  “I refuse to let you go and fight in this war.  And if you go off to fight, what about your brother?  Who’s to say that he won’t join you on this crusade?”  
            “He won’t mom.  He’s still a student.  I’m sure if we talk to Uncle Oz, we’ll make sure that the students don’t fight unless the fight comes right to their doorstep.”  
            “That may be, but you yourself Ember…..”  
            “Am a full fledged huntress mom.  I’m not some weak kid that you need to coddle and keep safe from the boogeyman at night.  I’m a registered fighter, and I am going to help in whatever way I can.  Heck, my old teammates have agreed to come back and help out like we did in the old days.”  
            “That doesn’t surprise me” Ruby said finally piping up in the back. “You and all of Team BEAT remind me of us when we were your age.”  
            “Don’t encourage her sis” Yang said as she clenched her fist.  
            “Yang, you can’t protect her from the world.  If this is what she wants to do and how she wants to protect the world, who are we to stop her?”  
            “I’m her mother Ruby.”  
            “And how do you think dad felt when we risked life and limb on two separate occasions.  Heck, how do you think he felt when we said that we were going back into that mess during the first time the Order showed up?”  Yang fell silent and simply stared out the window as they came in on the final approach to Beacon.  As they landed and opened the doors, Ruby stepped out and made her way over to where Beanie was standing.  Yang just continued to stare out the window.  She recognized so many different places where she and Nathan would have their little dates doing stupid stuff instead of studying for finals.  Ember took off her seatbelt, leaned over and put her hand on her mother’s shoulder.  
            “I’m sorry mom.”  Yang turned to look at her daughter’s face and saw tears running down the side of her face. Yang wiped away those tears, but neglected to tend to the tears running down her own face, which Ember returned the favor.  They then embraced each other tightly and let the tears go for a few minutes.  
            “I miss him.” Ember said between sobs.  
            “Me too sweetie” Yang said between sobs as well.  Beanie and Ruby both saw them sitting in the airship, and didn’t say anything.  They simply stood there in silence, Ruby fighting back tears herself.  After a few minutes, the two of them emerged and made their way to the main tower.  
            “No one would question your absence in this meeting” Beanie said as they waited for the elevator.  “Heck, Professor Ozpin said that if you both wanted to sit out, nobody would blame you.”  
            “No” Ember said clenching her fist.  “This is something I have to do.  For my father.”

            “And I need to make sure that the students don’t fight in this mess” Yang said crossing her arms.  “I refuse to let Gray see what’s coming or go off on a rage-driven revenge plot.”

            “Don’t worry” Ruby said as they reached the top floor.  “I’m sure no one in that room wants to put the children through such a harrowing experience like this one unless the enemy is right at their doorstep.”  With that, they opened the doors to the holo-room and were greeted by Miles screaming at the top of his lungs, 

“Are you serious Ironwood?!  There’s no way that I’m letting you let our kids fight in this coming war!”  
            “We still don’t know what to fully expect from this newly resurrected Order Miles!” Ironwood yelled as he slammed his fist down on his desk.  “We need all the help we can get!  And if I’ve learned anything over my years of battle, it’s that we need to make sure that we use all the soldiers available to us!”  
            “General!” Weiss yelled at the top of her lungs.  “You are out of line!”  
            “It’s our job to make sure that the children don’t have to see the horrors we did back during the battles of Beacon and Vytal!” Pyrrha said as she pointed her spear at Ironwood’s head.  
            “A holographic spear is not that threatening child” Ironwood said as he walked towards Pyrrha.  “Besides, we won those battles because of the children!  I say, they are the key to our victory!”  
            “Natalie had to die and come back before we achieved that victory!” Christy yelled at the top of her lungs.  “And she almost died again a few days ago even with all of her experience now. You general, have your priorities backward.”  
            “My priorities are protecting the world of Remnant!  And I refuse to let it die now after we have fought so hard to achieve what we have today!  You all fought for this future when you were children, why not let them fight for their future?!”  Suddenly, a shot rang out.  Yang had fired a round from her robotic arm at the hologram of General Ironwood.  The entire room fell silent after this moment, and Yang marched straight towards Ironwood’s hologram.  
            “When I was a kid, I lost my arm to these monsters” Yang said holding up her hand in Ironwood’s face.  “And now, I’ve lost my husband to them.  While I can’t do anything to stop my daughter from joining the fight, it’ll be a cold day in hell before I ever let you even think about letting my son fight in this war.” The room stayed silent, no one really having a reaction.  Then Ironwood, clenched his fist, and yelled back,  
            “What do you know about sacrifice?”  He then proceeded to rip of his shirt revealing his half-cybernetic body. “I’ve lost everything in my life to keep this world safe!  My wife! My children!  My soldiers!  I have risked everything and given so much to keep this world safe!  So don’t you dare lecture me about sacrifice!”

“If you know so much about sacrifice general,” Blake said stepping forward, “Wouldn’t you want to make sure that no one ever had to endure and sacrifice what you have sacrificed?”  The room fell silent once again, no one offering any solutions to the issue at hand. However, after a few moments of silence, Jacob stepped forward.  
            “May I make a suggestion?”  Nobody said no, and nobody protested, so Jacob continued.  “The thing is, if the Order is as powerful as we believe them to be, then we are going to need all available huntsmen and huntresses on deck for dealing with the threat at hand.  And that will leave the smaller towns and villages virtually defenseless save the few huntsmen and huntresses we can spare.  I do not think it is wise to put the students in the front lines of battle, but perhaps a compromise can be reached.  To gain experience in the real world, the students and their teams will shadow professionally trained huntsmen and huntresses in the field, all the while making sure they are doing jobs that will benefit the people.  I know this system isn’t perfect, and it is entirely likely that the war may come to them before we have a chance to stop it, but it ensures that we are keeping the people safe while not having the students be forced to stare right down the barrel of the gun.  Can we all find this agreeable?”  There wasn’t an initial reaction at first, but then Miles stepped forward.

“Most of our kids, while they may not have seen the stuff we did back in our day, they have had their own fair share of trials to reach where they are today.  My own daughter had to fight off hordes of Grimm in her own home since me and my own comrades failed to keep them away from civilians.  They shouldn’t be a part of the coming war, but Jacob makes a good point.  We are going to be stretched to our limit here. Plus, this is a good way for the students to stay on their toes.  I agree with this plan.”  Miles raised his right hand as a sign of approval of the plan.  Slowly but surely, everyone else in the room also raised their hands in agreement.

“Very well then” Ironwood said as he sat down at his now almost destroyed desk.  “I will coordinate with my officers here and keep an eye out for the Order’s first attack and when it might arrive.  The rest of you, I suggest you do the same.  Keep the channels open in case a surprise attacks pops up.”  Ironwood then ended his call, and several other people ended the call as well. Yang, still clearly distraught, walked over to Jacob and hugged him.

“Thanks for trying to keep the kids as safe as you could” she said holding back tears.

“I wish we could have had the chance to make sure that nobody fought, but it seems we’re pas that now.”  Everybody else in the room simply walked over to the two of them and all created a large hug group.  They didn’t have any words to say, nor did they have the chance to process everything. This was their first time since what happened two days ago did they get the chance to truly mourn.  Not a word was said, but several sniffles were made and several hugs were shared.

 

**2 Hours Later**

            Yang stood just outside the door of the dorm room where Team GASH stayed.  She took a deep breath., not wanting to continue. Blake then put her hand on her friends shoulder.  
            “We need to see them” she said.  Yang sighed, and knocked on the door.  The door swung open, and young Sora Nikos was the one who answered it.  
            “They’re over there” he said pointing to a corner of the room where Hera, Gray, and Aurora were all sitting on the bed.  The parents all walked in and saw that they were looking over old family photos of all their families together.  Hera pulled up a picture on her phone.  
            “Hey Gray, remember this day?”  
            “Yeah.  My dad had just jumped off the side of the boat we had rented and found out that there were tiny baby crab grimm where he was swimming.  He was mad.”  
            “Is that why he’s got so many red spots all over him?” Aurora asked looking over the picture.  “I thought I heard it was from a training accident.”  
            “That’s the age old excuse he made for years” Gray said with a sad chuckle. “Heck, any time that dad did anything stupid back at the house, he would always tell me and Ember that it was just a training accident.”  The three of them laughed, then looked up to see their parents standing there.  Once more, no words could come to mind.  They all just started embracing one another tightly with the occasional “I’m sorry” popping up on occasion.  Nobody knew what the correct response was outside of to just be there for one another.

 

 

 

            General Ironwood continued to finish up the information needed to ensure that the armies of Atlas were ready for whatever the Order threw at them. Suddenly, an alarm flashed on his monitor.  He quickly answered it and saw the panicked face of Pyrrha Nikos.  
            “General,” Pyrrha said in a panic, “how quickly can the troops of Argus get to Haven?”  
            “Depending on how prepared they are, not long.  I take it the Order is attacking?”  
            “Full force.  We’re holding our own since the nature of the city is perfect against ground forces, but their airships are giving us trouble.”  
            “Hold the fort Mrs. Nikos.  I’ll let everybody know.”  Ironwood hung up, and then grabbed a recorder.   “This is General Ironwood.  The Order is making their first play at Haven Academy.  This is not a drill.  This is how the war begins.”  After he said that, he sent out the recording in a mass message to everybody who made the decisions in Remnant.  He then ran towards his personal airship and started making calls to all his officers as well as to the officers in Argus, telling them what was going on.  As the airship took to the skies, he looked down at the Atlas Academy grounds and saw the students training.  Students who had been blessed with the gift of peace for so long, now not far away, that very peace was being threatened by an old enemy. Ironwood loaded his pistol, and watched as the airships began taking off and making their way to Haven.  
            “Whatever it takes.”


	10. Episode 1: Chapter 2: The Battles to Come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 of Episode 1 of the War of Seasons.

“How bad is it out there James?” Ozpin asked as Ironwood held onto the railing support in his aircraft.  
            “It’s bad Oz.  The natural barriers are helping protect the majority of the city, but with their air ships, that isn’t much of an advantage.  We’ve managed to keep them at a reasonable distance, but it’s only a matter of time before they start sending dropships over the city and getting troops on the ground to hurt us from the inside.”  Ozpin clasped his fingers together in worry.

            “Call everyone else you can.  Most of the members of the people from the meeting are still around Beacon.  I can reach out to them and scramble a few fighters with the best we have to offer here at Beacon as a form of quick support. It will take a while to mobilize the armies of Vale and who knows if Vacuo will even reach there in time.”  
            “Don’t stretch yourself too thin Oz.” Ironwood said as he made his way over to another console and started inputting commands to send out to his forces. “That might be the Order’s play.  Strike one area and pull our forces into a trap leaving the rest of the world vulnerable to sudden attack.   Send what you can without leaving your kingdom defenseless.  I’m in no rush to head there after this battle today.  Especially if it’s under attack.  Talk later.”  Ironwood then ended the communication, leaving Ozpin to quickly grab his Scroll and call Beanie.

 

 

            Everybody was sitting around in the common area in the dorms reminiscing over times past with everybody together.  Yang started to chuckle as she looked over at Gray.  
            “Did I ever tell you kids how your father and I wound up on our first date together?”  
            “You told me several times” Ember said rolling her eyes at her mother.  “I still think it’s super dumb.”  
            “Nobody ever told me that story” Gray said, clearly trying to hide back his sadness with a smile.    
            “Well, it happened not long after our first mission with Team NEMN and Team JCTB fighting Grimm and White Fang” Yang said as she started to frame the story.  Suddenly Beanie’s scroll went off.  
            “Sorry guys,” Beanie said as he stood up to leave, “I have to take this.” He proceeded to head off into the next room, while Yang continued her story.  
            “So me and Nathan suggested to Miles and Blake that we have everybody meet up at this local café to relax and celebrate our first successful mission together!”  
            “Oh please,” Miles said pinching his forehead while he tried to hold back a smile, “don’t remind everybody.”

            “So we told them we would all meet at this café,” Yang said continuing like Miles wasn’t even there, “but what they didn’t know, was that it was only going to be Miles and Blake with me and Nathan forcing the two of them to go out on a date!”  
            “Get out!” Gray said as he tried to hold back his laughter.  
            “It’s true!” Ruby said with a smile on her face.  “And then they did everything they could to make sure they hung out together no matter what happened!  Even making sure that the big pet parade…..”  
            “Sorry to interrupt everything” Beanie said running back into the common area, “but I just got off the phone with Ozpin.”  
            “What’s wrong?”  Christy asked standing up quickly.

            “Did the Order make a play?” Ty asked grabbing his sword from off the ground as he stood up.  
            “Yeah.” Beanie quickly pulled up a holographic image on his Scroll.  “Haven Academy is under siege by the Order.”  
            “How soon do we leave?” Brooklyn asked as she cracked her knuckles.  
            “Right now” Beanie said as he started heading out towards the docks.  Everybody started following Beanie as he sent out the battle hologram to everybody in the nearby vicinity.  “Everybody who’s a full fledged Huntsman and Huntress here is expected to fly out to Haven Academy ASAP.”  
            “What kind of support are we looking at for our side?” Jacob asked as he looked over the hologram.  “Looks like the Atlesian Military is already there.  
            “A good chunk of them are.  Ironwood doesn’t want to leave all the kingdoms defenseless in case they make a move at the other kingdoms as well as Mistral.  We’re mostly going to be ground support in the city.  The airships currently have a blockade keeping the Order out of the city, but we don’t think it can hold forever.  Or at the very least, keep them from sneaking in.”  
            “All right” Ember said as she deactivated the hologram and opened her contacts tab.  “The rest of my old team are in town waiting for me.  I’ll just tell them to meet us at the docks and come with us.”  
            “I’ll get in touch with my dad in Menagerie if Ozpin hasn’t already and see if any members of the militia or maybe even the White Faun would be willing to fight alongside us” Blake said as she quickly started tapping away on her Scroll.  
            “What about us?” Gray asked as he ran in front of the group.  
            “You are going to stay here at Beacon and away from the fight” Yang said as she picked up Gray and placed him back with the other members of Team GASH.

            “That’s not fair!” Sora said as he flew forward a little bit.  “Haven is my home!  My family is back there I need to help them!”  
            “Besides,” Hera said stepping forward as well, “if there’s a chance we could run into that Tenebris jerk who…..well if we see him we want a piece of him!” Everybody stopped walking and all the parents turned around.  
            “That’s exactly why you’re not going” Miles said in a firm voice.  
            “The Order is willing and capable of doing anything” Yang said with a clenched fist.  “Even killing kids.”  
            “Believe me, I would know” Natalie said showing off the stab wound she had received years ago from Lord Mortem.  
            “We’ve already lost Nathan” Blake said folding her arms.  “We aren’t willing to lose you as well.  And Sora, I know your parents would say the same thing.” Everybody was silent, but then Team GASH retreated back into the dorms and left their families to head out into whatever was waiting for them Mistral.  
            “This stinks.” Hera said as she kicked the ground in anger.  “All of them faced even greater and worse threats when we were their age.  We should be out there helping!  We’re more than capable!”  
            “That’s probably why they want us to stay behind” Aurora said placing her hands behind her back.  “We are capable enough, but you heard what they said.  If the Order decides to attack here then we don’t want to be stretched out too thin.  Plus, if the army fails, we will be the last line of defense.  And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my first year here at this school to result in us transferring or having to take time off from learning how to become better.”  
            “Still,” Gray said with clear disappointment in his voice, “I wanted to take a swing at that monster who killed my dad.”  Everybody stopped walking for a moment, not sure how to process all these emotions. They were just freshmen, and they were already in a situation beyond their control.  
            “I wanted a crack at him too” Hera said clenching her fist.  “But something tells me, we might just get our shot at doing that before this is all over.”

 

 

**2 Hours Later**

            The dropships started to make their way into Mistral airspace, and everybody got a chance to truly see what was happening.  Airships firing at each other, enemy soldiers at the gates of Mistral trying to break in while the brave soldiers, Huntsmen and Huntresses held them at bay.  As they flew towards the main command ship of the Atlesian forces, they saw a few airships from Menagerie appear in the distance as well.  When everybody was together finally, Ironwood popped up on the local communicators in the dropships.  
            “Thank you for getting here so quickly” he said as he continued to send out commands from the deck of his ship.  “They haven’t been able to break through the main gates and their airships are still stuck behind our blockade.  But there are some other complications at play here.”  As he said this, Pyrrha popped up as well on the communicator.  
            “How are you holding up cousin?” Jacob asked as he saw that Pyrrha was clearly stressed out.  
            “I’ve had better days, but that’s not important right now.  There are a few possibilities that the Order may exploit that we need to make sure keep the people safe.”

            “Like what?” Christy asked as she looked out the window.  “Looks like they aren’t getting in anytime soon.”

            “We hope not, but there are some possibilities” Pyrrha pulled up a map of Mistral for everybody to see.  “One is that our forces at the main gate are probably about to fail, and that will leave the city open to their attack.  And that’s not accounting for the hordes of Grimm that are probably not that far of from us now.  It’s a miracle that we haven’t seen more than we already have.  Especially a giant Grimm like we thought.  But there is one other potential leak.”  Pyrrha then zoomed in on the waterfall that ran from the top of the mountain and down into the city.  “Centuries ago, there were several hidden passages built into the mountain that lead out of the city behind the waterfall.  I’m afraid that if somehow the Order knows about it….”  
            “How could they?” Evan asked as he looked over the map.  “You told me yourself, the only people who knew about those tunnels and where they lead were people with high level access.”  
            “Yes, but given how deep the reach of the Order was all those years ago, I wouldn’t be surprised that they have some form of information on these tunnels. I think it would be good to at least have a small team on standby in case they do make a play there.”  
            “My team can go” Bovia said speaking up.  “The water gives me an advantage, and the rest of my team is more than capable of dealing with threats like this.  Plus, if these tunnels are as secret as you make them out to be ma’am, then they will probably only send in a small strike team to get in and create an opening for the larger army to break through.  But if we stop them there, they may give up all together.”  
            “I’m fine with this strategy” Ironwood said.  “Team BEAT will guard the secret tunnels, while everybody else heads down to the ground to help with the immediate threat.”  
            “What about the airships?” Natalie asked as a nearby Atleasin fighter went down in flames.”  
            “We can hold our own.  Plus, the new air support that seems to be arriving from Menagerie will be extremely helpful.  Also with luck, the armies of Vale and Vacuo will be arriving with what they could afford to give up for this fight soon.  And that will put the Order at a disadvantage.  Until that time arrives, we need to keep the Order from hurting people.” As Ironwood finished talking, Miles was already standing by the jump doors.  
            “We’ve wasted enough time strategizing” he said as he drew his swords. “Now is the time for action.” With that, Miles jumped out of the side of the airship and started angling his way down towards the battle at the main gate.  Following suit, Ty and Jacob leapt out as well, while most everybody else waited for their best opportunity to leap out and join the fray.  Most options for a proper landing strategy were off the table, so they had to make do with what they could find.  Soon though, everybody had leapt off the airship and were in the midst of the battle.  That left Team BEAT on the dropship to be taken into the kingdom itself and dropped off by the entrance to the secret tunnels behind the waterfall.  They all then prepared their weapons for battle, ready for whatever would come out of the shadows to face them.  
            “You guys ready?” Arri asked as she spun her scythe around.  Terra pulled some rocks from the wall and formed a suit of armor with them.  
            “Just like old days” Terra said punching her fists together.  Bovia smiled and charged her aura by standing beneath the waterfall.    
            “Nothing can stop the BEAT!”  Ember rolled her eyes at their leader’s bad pun, but readied her weapons.  
            “Let’s do this.”

 

 

 

            Lord Imperia watched as the remaining members of the strike force loaded the dropship.  
            “You have your orders” she said as they all strapped in.  “Do not fail.”  The strike force nodded their heads as the door closed and the dropship took to the skies.  Lord Imperia then turned to see Lord Tenebris getting his supplies ready.  
            “You are sure that you know the correct path?” she said with skepticism.  
            “Have I given you any reason to not trust me my lord?” Lord Tenebris said with anger in his voice.  “I know the way.”  Lord Imperia smiled and watched as Lord Tenebris made his way over to a small speeder and flew towards a small almost hidden cliffside on the mountain that made up the kingdom of Mistral.  
            “Then open the door to our victory Lord Tenebris.”


	11. Episode 1: Chapter 4: Hidden Agenda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 of Episode 1 of Order of Seasons

Everybody seemed to stop once Lord Tenebris said what he did to Ember.  There was a moment where there wasn’t any form of motion.  
            “Imposter?”  Ember said tilting her head at her opponent.  “How am I the imposter in this scenario?”  
            “You were given the name of a daughter of Aequo” Lord Tenebris said stepping forward, drawing his blade and pointing it at Ember.  “You were given the name of somebody who truly suffered in this world without even experiencing any form of hardship.  Your fool of a father….”  
            “You do not get to speak about my father” Ember said pointing her own weapon in her right hand back at Lord Tenebris.  “You of all people don’t get to speak of my father.”  Lord Tenebris simply laughed, then cracked his neck and took his battle stance.  
            “I will speak of whomever I please however I please, especially if they are people who pretend to be of Aequo, when in reality, they are nothing more than mockeries of the people who truly lived there.”  
            “You seem to know a whole lot about a village that’s been destroyed for decades” Terra said stepping forward with her armor at the ready.  
            “I speak as the last true son of Aequo” Lord Tenebris said relaxing from his battle stance and raising his arms to the sky.  “And it is my quest to not only snuff out those who dishonor the legacy of Aequo, but to return it to its former glory and…..”  
            “You talk too much” Arri said as she rushed forward and slashed Lord Tenebris across the chest with her scythe.  Lord Tenebris recoiled from the attack, stumbling back behind the strike squad that he had brought with him.  As he regained his composure, he signaled his troops to attack.  The strike squad, mostly Order goons with electric batons and pistols, all rushed forward to engage Team BEAT.  Bovia quickly reacted, sending out a force of water to try and knock back the enemy, but the goons using batons quickly activated the electrical current of their weapons.  And while they did take some damage from the initial impact of the water from Bovia’s attack, the electricity from their weapons flowed right through the water and hurt Bovia, knocking her off her feet.  After that, the goons were able to rush forward again, forcing the remaining members of Team Beat to rush forward and face them head on as well.  Terra formed gauntlets with her fists and started beating the tar out of everybody that was in the near vicinity of her attacks, making sure that the electric batons didn’t hit her.  And if they did, they would just harmlessly bounce off her armor of stones. A few attacks managed to sneak through the rifts though, lowering her aura, as well as the fact that her Semblance was draining her arua as well.  Meanwhile, Arri was faced with the full force of the strike squad as she had rushed forward to attack Lord Tenebris leaving herself wide open.  And without any real plant life around, she couldn’t use her Semblance.  So having to think quickly, Arri spun her scythe around in a circle like her mother taught her years ago.  It managed to keep all of the enemies at bay long enough for Ember to rush forward and knock a couple of soldiers backwards.  When she did that, the soldiers attention were suddenly drawn to Ember, leaving Arri with the chance to quickly take down a few opponents that were immediately surrounding her.  With that, she rushed forward and started taking out several other troops that were in the nearby vicinity.  Meanwhile, Bovia slowly got up after recovering from the electric shock, and realized that nobody else had realized she had gotten back up yet.  She took this opportunity to get back beneath the waterfall and regenerate the aura she had lost in the attack.  But then she noticed something.  Lord Tenebris had gotten up as well, and instead of fighting the rest of Team BEAT, he was walking around the cave walls where they were fighting, tapping the wall with his tuning fork sword.  Then, it seemed that he had found something.  A moment later, Lord Tenebris placed his hand on his mask, as if activating a communicator.  Not sure what was going on, she pulled out a communicator of her own and quickly called up Natalie.

 

            Everybody managed to get inside the main gates of the school before the barricades were put into place.  Despite the fact that Haven was so high up in terms of the rest of the kingdom of Mistral, after what had happened at Beacon years ago, all the schools were upgraded to ensure maximum safety for those either hiding inside or in the courtyard defending the school.  Miles walked over and pulled up his Scroll and called general Ironwood.  
            “General, we could use some good news” Miles said as he pinched his forehead.  
            “The evacuation vessels should be able to get there soon enough” Ironwood responded.  “But I’m not sure that we can hold this airspace for much longer.  I’ve already called the incoming Vale and Vacuo airships and told them that they will be covering our retreat instead of supporting this battle.”  
            “Is there really nothing else we can do general?”  
            “Not unless you want everybody in the school to be caught in the crossfire.”  
            “All right then.  See you in a few minutes.”  Miles hung up and made his way back over to where his friends were standing.  Pyrrha and Jaune were making sure their family were all okay, Christy was helping tend to the injuries of civilians and huntsmen, and everybody looked dazed and confused.  Miles walked over and sat down next to Blake who was clearly shaken up.

            “How did this happen?” Blake said fighting back tears.  “We defeated them years ago, and now here they are, destroying everything we care about all over again.”  
            “They surprised us” Miles said placing his hand on her shoulder.  “We didn’t know what to expect or when to expect it.  It’s a miracle we managed to salvage what we did.  Instead of worrying about what did happen, let’s just be thankful that we didn’t lose anybody else here today.”  Blake smiled and placed her hand on Miles’ hand.  
            “You’re right.  Besides, we’ve lost before.  And we bounced right back and kicked them out.  I just hope we’re better prepared next time we……”  Suddenly, Natalie walked right past them talking on her Scroll.  
            “What do you mean they’re searching for something else down there?” Natalie said running her hand through her hair.  Miles stood up and walked over to Natalie.  
            “Natls, what’s going on?”  
            “Hang on Bovia,” Natalie said turning to face Miles, “let me put you on speaker phone.”  Natalie took her Scroll, pushed a button, then held it up so both her and Miles could hear.  
            “Can you hear me?” Bovia’s voice started coming through the Scroll.  
            “As well as we can given our circumstances” Miles said folding his arms. “What’s going on Bovia?  You should have received the evacuation orders long ago?”  
            “Got busy dealing with a group of Order soldiers trying to sneak through the tunnels.”  
            “So they did know about the passages.  We should let Pyrrha know and….”  
            “That’s not important right now!”  Bovia said almost shouting as she cut Miles off.  “Look, that guy who killed Ember’s dad is here and….”  
            “Wait, he’s here?” Natalie said moving the Scroll closer to her face as if to amplify her own voice.  “Why didn’t you call it in as soon as he arrived?”  
            “Look, that’s not important right now.  He’s here now, and it looks like he’s trying to find something hidden in the cave walls.”  
            “Something hidden?” Miles asked with confusion.  “How do you mean?”  
            “I don’t know how to fully describe it outside of he looks like he’s trying to find a hidden room or something.”  
            “Why isn’t he trying to attack the city?  That’s what the rest of the Order is doing.”  
            “We should find Pyrrha” Natalie said turning back towards where she last saw her friend.  “Maybe she could provide some insight.  Stay on the line Bovia.  We’ll be right back.”  With that, the two of them quickly found Pyrrha.  
            “What’s going on?”  Pyrrha asked as she stood up from helping one of her children make sure he had everything. Natalie simply held up the Scroll to Pyrrha and said,  
            “Bovia, we’ve got Pyrrha here.  Tell her what you’re seeing.”  
            “Ok Headmistress Pyrrha….” Bovia started but then Pyrrha cut her off saying,  
            “Just Pyrrha darling or we’re going to be here all day.”  
            “Ok Pyrrha, well from the looks of things, it seems like the Order is banging on the walls around the waterfall here trying to find some kind of secret passage.”  
            “Secret passage?  But why would they be looking through the wall for….oh no.”  Pyrrha immediately grabbed her weapons and started running for the school. Confused, Miles and Natalie ran after her.  
            “What’s wrong?” Miles yelled as he managed to catch up to Pyrrha super quickly.  
            “What am I supposed to tell Bovia?”  Natalie said as she also managed to catch up with them as well.  
            “Bovia!” Pyrrha said almost yelling at the Scroll, “Help your teammates! We’ll be there as soon as we can!”  
            “Got it” Bovia said hanging up leaving the three of them to keep running towards the school.  As they kept running, Jacob, Evan, Yang, and Brooklyn started running alongside them.  
            “What’s going on?” Jacob asked trying to make sure he didn’t run out of breath.  
            “No time to explain now!” Pyrrha said as she grabbed a pocket watch from out of her armor.  As she grabbed the pocket watch, they all made it into the main hall of the school, and then Pyrrha ran over to a nearby statue and put the watch in a little slot, where it began whirring and spinning.  Seconds later, the statue lowered itself into the floor revealing an elevator of sorts, with the top of the statue acting as a platform.  
            “Everybody get on!”  Pyrrha yelled as she ran onto the platform.  Everybody else followed suit, and the platform began lowering itself into the ground as soon as everybody was on.  
            “Pyrrha,” Evan said catching his breath, “please tell us what is wrong? What is even happening right now?”

 

 

 

            Bovia put her Scroll away, grabbed her weapon, and launched herself right back into the thick of battle.  The strike squad was struggling to deal with the members of Team BEAT, and it was clear that it was a losing battle.  There was one goon who was trying to sneak up on Ember, who was pre-occupied with beating the pulp out of an Order member.  But before the soldier could attack, the weighted end of Bovia’s kusarigama hit the back of the head of her opponent.  The soldier went down with a thud, which caught the attention of Ember.  
            “Still struggling to case your surroundings I see” Bovia said as she walked past Ember.  
            “We are in a cavern after all, not like I can hear everything like normal” Ember said cracking her neck and continuing to make her way towards Lord Tenebris.  Terra and Arri dispatched their opponents swiftly as well, leaving nothing standing between them and Lord Tenebris.  They all lined up and got in their battle poses.  Lord Tenebris simply chuckled, and pointed his sword at them.  
            “You’ve failed.”  
            “We failed?”  Terra said as she looked at all the fallen Order soldiers.  “From the looks of things, you’re the last things standing between us and a complete victory.”

            “My victory was not dependent on your victory or defeat,” Lord Tenebris said raising his sword even higher.  “It depended on you not being able to dispatch them before my reinforcements arrived.”  Suddenly, several Order soldiers poured out from the caverns and into the open, weapons at the ready.  Team BEAT was completely caught off-guard.  And in that instant of confusion, Lord Tenebris took his sword and struck it down on the ground, creating a giant sound shockwave that sent Team BEAT flying backwards and over the side of the cliff next to the waterfall.  As they flew over the side, Lord Tenebris then turned to his reinforcements, and took a knee as Lord Imperia made her entrance.  
            “Very well done Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said walking past him.  “So, this wall is thin enough that we can penetrate it?”  
            “That is correct my lord” Lord Tenebris said as he stood.  “The demolition team will have no issue getting in there with only one charge.”  
            “Good.  Bring in the chamber.”  As she said this, soldiers started prepping the wall to explode, while a different group of soldiers appeared from the tunnels pushing a small pod.  The pod was clearly medical in nature, and it was holding something.  Lord Imperia smiled, and covered her ears as the demolition charges exploded.  Looking through the giant gaping hole, she saw the giant golden tree and the giant golden doors.  
            “The Chamber of Knowledge.  At long last.”

 

 

            As the platform continued to descend into the depths below, Pyrrha kept trying to reach out to Professor Ozpin.  
            “No good” she said finally putting the Scroll away.  “Signal’s not strong enough down here.  We just have to hope for the best.”  
            “Pyrrha,” Natalie said clearly stressed out, “you still haven’t told us what’s wrong.”  Pyrrha drew her weapons and got into a ready battle position.  
            “There’s not enough time to explain everything right now, we’re almost at the bottom.  All I can say right now is that there is a giant door that leads to a relic that we can’t allow the Order to possess.”  
            “All right then” Yang said loading her gauntlets, “Let’s take some names.” The platform slowed to a halt, revealing several Order members standing around a giant door.  Lord Imperia turned around and saw everybody standing there in battle position.  
            “How intriguing” Lord Imperia said with a sick smile.  “Lord Tenebris, would you care to keep them away from me until I get what we came here for?”  
            “Of course my lord” Lord Tenebris said drawing his sword.  As he walked forward, Lord Imperia turned her attention back to the giant door and the small pod they had sitting in front of it.  Meanwhile, Lord Tenebris kept walking towards his new opponents, and pointed his weapon right at Miles.  
            “You” he said with anger in his voice.  “You claim to be a child of Aequo.”  
            “I am a child of Aequo” Miles said drawing his swords.  “I was born and raised there until it fell.”  
            “I was born there as well” Jacob said stepping forward.  “Though I spent much of my time traveling the world, I always called it home.”  
            “Same here” Evan said as he prepared his spear.  “Aequo was a truly great place, taken away from this world far too soon.”

“Yeah” Natalie said also stepping forward.  “And you are the monster who took away one of the best children of Aequo. Just because he tried to stop you from destroying the world.”  
            “You are all fools!” Lord Tenebris said with a shout.  “You are all pretenders!  I am the last true child of Aequo!  You claim to care about Aequo, but you take no action for her!  I will do what must be done for our home!”  
            “Okay, are you stupid or something?” Jacob asked loading dust crystals into his kunai blades while Lord Tenebris took his time.  
            “No,” Lord Tenebris said as he tensed up for his first attack.  “Just somebody who has learned of the true path to reality.” With that, Lord Tenebris launched himself forward, but found himself stopped just short of the four.  When the dust settled, it was revealed that Yang was standing there, blocking the attack with her robot arm.  
            “Yeah, I’ve got a score to settle with you first bub.”  With that, Yang punched Lord Tenebris in the gut. While most people would have gone flying from such an attack, Lord Tenebris simply skidded back a few feet before regaining his composure.  
            “Well then,” Lord Tenebris said cracking his neck.  “You will share in their fate as well fool.”

 

 

Ozpin was trying to make sure that he didn’t miss anything when he was ordering the troops that were flying out to Mistral to try and help.  All the while, he was racking his brain about what the Order was trying to accomplish in Mistral.  And how much they actually knew about the secrets he had stored in there centuries ago.  Suddenly, his Scroll went off.  It was a message from Pyrrha.  It simply read,  
            “Order knows about the chamber.  What’s the status of the Spring Maiden?”  Suddenly Ozpin realized exactly what was going on.  He collapsed in his chair, covering his face with his hands.  
            “It’s all my fault.”


	12. Episode 1: Chapter 5: Lost Relic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 of Episode 1 of War of Seasons.

Lord Tenebris prepared his weapons to face Yang once again, but then Lord Imperia placed her hand on his shoulder.  
            “Let the other handle them” Lord Imperia said with a simle.  “You must be the last line of defense in case they fail before we accomplish our goal.”  Lord Tenebris nodded his head, and put his blade away while several Order soldiers rushed past him and prepared to battle their opponents.  As he turned to join Lord Imperia, Yang had launched herself over the wall of enemy soldiers with her gauntlets towards Lord Tenebris.  
            “I just said I’ve got a score to settle with you!” Yang yelled as she pulled back to prepare a punch.  Suddenly, Lord Imperia pulled out a staff, struck it into the ground, and blocked Yang’s attack without a second thought.  Yang didn’t even have a chance to process what had just happened before Lord Imperia pulled her staff out of the ground, and swung it with the power of fire dust imbued into it which sent her flying backwards.  Yang ended up crashing through a couple of Order soldiers on her way back to her friends,  but it didn’t help by the fact that she was almost out of Aura when she landed.  Getting back up and reloading her weapons, she joined her friends and surveyed the situation.  
            “Any idea what they’re planning to do down here?” Yang asked firing a few rounds at some incoming soldiers.  
            “Not sure” Miles said morphing his swords into dual pistols and taking potshots at the enemy as well.  “They brought something that looks like a med-tank, but I’m not sure for what purpose.”  
            “I think the bigger question at hand right now,” Jacob said throwing a fire dust kunai towards the wall of soldiers trying to clear a path, “is what is this place and what does the Order want with it?”  
            “Care to enlighten us Pyrrha?” Evan asked as he used his spear to push back a couple of bold yet foolish Order soldiers.  Pyrrha sighed, threw her shield at several nearby Order members, retrieved it with her Semblance, then pointed her sword at the giant yellow door.  
            “I can’t go into much detail right now, but what I can tell you is that there is an important relic locked behind that door, and we can’t allow the Order to get their hands on it.”  
            “How do we keep them from opening it?” Brooklyn asked morphing her weapon into shield for to protect everybody as the enemy soldiers managed to get a lot of firepower behind them and pinned down everybody.  
            “They can’t open it” Pyrrha said as she morphed her sword to rifle mode and took aim over Brooklyn’s shield.  “Not without the Spring Maiden at least.  That’s the only one who can open that door.”  
            “I have a bad feeling about this…” Natalie said taking shots at the enemy as well.

 

 

Lord Imperia placed her hand on the ID scan of the med-pod, and with a hiss, the doors opened revealing a young woman with flowing blue hair.  The girl was unconscious, but her body seemed to glow almost like a candle with a faint green light.  Lord Imperia smiled and looked over at Lord Tenebris.  
            “Care to do the honors?” she said pointing at the limp hand of their prisoner.  Lord Tenebris nodded his head and grabbed the hand of the girl in the pod.  He then proceeded to take the hand and place it on the giant door.  As soon as he did so, the door began to move.  Pieces folding in on each other like a fan, revealing behind the door a great desert, with a small stone path leading to a floating blue lamp on a pedestal. Lord Imperia smiled, and began to make her way towards the lamp.

 

 

            Pyrrha took another shot at the wall of Order soldiers when she noticed that the door was starting to open.  
            “That’s impossible!” she yelled taking a few steps back.  “Ironwood said that she was in a safe and secure location!”  
            “Not that impossible” Miles said as he fired a few more shots at the enemy. “The Order always seemed to have a jump on finding the Maidens when we thought they were safe.  Plus given how they managed to rebuild themselves like this, I’m willing to bet one of them managed to sneak in and get the information they needed off a secure server or something like that.”  
            “Less talk, more trying to make sure they don’t get away with this “relic” you mentioned cousin” Jacob said as he drew his main blade.  “I’ll clear a path.”  
            “Wait” Natalie said grabbing Jacob’s shoulder before he rushed forward. “Miles, how much aura do you have left?”  
            “I have a good amount.  Why?”  
            “Enough to pull off Zero G Flash-Step?”  
            “I should have enough for that, but afterwards I’ll be out of commission.”  
            “That’s fine” Evan said reloading his spear with more dust crystals. “You and Natalie worry about the soldiers, we’ll handle the main threat.”  Everybody nodded their heads and prepared for action.  The next moment, Miles leapt in front of Brooklyn’s shield and extended his arms like he was attempting to control puppets on strings.  Then, all of a sudden, all of the Order soldiers started floating up into the air.  While using his Semblance on people other than himself was still risky, Miles had managed to continue to improve his abilities and reduce the amount of internal damage that his Semblance did to himself when using his ability on his opponents.  The soldiers weren’t the most difficult obstacle for him to face, but they were still numerous enough that it was a clear strain on his body.  But in the moment the soldiers went up into the air, Natalie leapt up and quickly leapt between all the soldiers striking them each down with decisive blows.  With that moment, there was a clear path for everybody else to make a mad dash towards Lord Imperia and Lord Tenebris.  Lord Imperia turned to face them, twirling her staff around in the process.  
            “Retrieve the lamp Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said as the dust around her feet began to swirl.  “I’ll keep them at bay.”  Lord Tenebris nodded his head and made his way to the stone pedestal.  Lord Imperia meanwhile, spun her staff around, causing gusts of wind to pick up around her.  Then, she pointed the head of her staff at her enemies and a whirlwind forced everybody to come to a halt.  Even Natalie was knocked out of the air from this attack, but not before all of the soldiers had finally been dealt with.  Once the winds died down, everybody regained their composure and prepared to attack again.  Evan rushed forward and thrust his spear forward, attempting to stab Lord Imperia in the gut, but with a skillful move, Lord Imperia redirected the attack with her staff, forcing Evan to virtually run right past her.  At first, Evan saw this as an opportunity to try and stop the Order from gaining the relic, but then he felt a sharp pain in his knees. Lord Imperia had a blade at the base of her staff which she used to stab Evan in the back of his legs.  Evan’s aura absorbed most of this damage, but there was still enough pain to stop his forward momentum.  In that moment, Brooklyn morphed her weapon from shield form to scimitar form and tried to engage Lord Imperia in one-on-one combat, with Jacob, Pyrrha, and Yang all right behind her ready to fight to the death. But in that moment, There was a loud sound, like a ringing bell.  Suddenly, Lord Imperia stabbed her staff into the ground, and a giant sound wave came crashing through and knocked everybody backwards.  Lord Tenebris then picked up his tuning fork sword from the ground and placed it in his sheath.  He then walked over to Lord Imperia, got down on one knee, and handed her the lamp. Lord Imperia smiled and took the relic with great care not to do anything that would damage it.  She then activated her communicator.  
            “We have the Relic of Knowledge.  Bring the ship around and cripple Mistral.  We’re leaving.”  After the radio acknowledged her statement, Lord Imperia and Lord Tenebris turned to leave out the same opening they created to get in.  Pyrrha, trying to get her bearings back, started firing blindly at the two of them as they headed out of the chamber.  But Jacob grabbed Pyrrha and dragged her back to the platform elevator. The attack from Lord Tenebris was causing the chamber itself to shake and crumble, several pieces of the cave ceiling was starting to cave in.  Luckily, once everybody was on the platform, the elevator rose back up to the surface. As the platform rose, everybody was in a daze, not sure how to react to what happened.  
            “Did we just lose?” Natalie asked as she tried to use her weapon as a crutch to stand up.  Pyrrha sighed, and collapsed exhausted on the floor.  
            “I’m afraid we have.”

 

 

 

            Team BEAT couldn’t believe what they were seeing.  It was almost as if all of Mistral was on fire.  When Lord Tenebris knocked them from the cliffside, Bovia had managed to catch everyone using the water from the falls to help slow their descent and ensure they survived.  But when they reached the bottom, they saw just how devastating the situation truly was. Housed and shops on fire, people running around in the panic and confusion with no true direction.  To make matters worse, the negative emotion had finally caught the attention of the local Grimm population.  Several species of Grimm were starting to flood the city, civilians were trapped, and everything was falling apart.  But instead of just standing there waiting for things to get worse, Team BEAT rushed into action, helping all the civilians they could while destroying all the nearby Grimm.  They managed to clear a path to make sure the survivors could reach the emergency evacuation ships at Haven Academy.  As they finally reached the last evacuation ship, they all boarded and flew out over the city of Mistral.  Nobody could believe it.  Mistral was a strong kingdom with several natural barriers, but there it was. Overrun with Grimm and Order soldiers, everything was lost.  But that didn’t bother Ember too much.  Her thoughts dwelled on what Lord Tenebris said to her.  She sat down and pondered everything all the way back to Beacon, where the school and city helped all the refugees find a place where they could be safe for the time being.  Everybody who was top ranking knew what needed to happen next.  Pyrrha looked the most distressed out of everyone.  
            “I let Ozpin down” Pyrrha said burying her face in her hands.  “I let my school down, I let my kingdom down, I let my family down….”  
            “We did the best we could” Jaune said as he lowered his wife’s hands from her face and held them in his own hands.  At least we saved lives instead of leaving the Order and the Grimm to just do as they pleased with the people.  We need to look ahead and make sure they pay for what they’ve done.” Pyrrha dried her tears and nodded her head.  Then, all at the same time, everybody who had been part of the calls earlier received a text from Professor Ozpin simply saying,  
            “Report to my office.  I believe I know what the Order is after.”  Nobody knew what to make of it, but they immediately made their way to Ozpin’s office.

 

 

            Ozpin kept pacing back and forth, going over all the scrolls on his table one last time.  Then, the elevator doors opened and everybody stepped out.  
            “Thank you for coming on such short notice” Ozpin said as he took a seat.  
            “Short notice is kind of par for the course these days” Christy said cracking her neck.  
            “True enough” Ozpin said with a sigh.  “And I fear we may not have much time to breathe.”  
            “Why’s that?” Ty asked tilting his head in confusion.  Ozpin sighed, and brought up an old scroll that had the symbol of the Order on it.  
            “I didn’t notice this the first time that the Order attacked, but there are pieces here that I can’t ignore any more.”  
            “What pieces?” Miles asked placing his hand on Ozpin’s desk.  “What are you talking about.”  
            “I’m talking about how I am actually the one who created the Order of the Four Seasons.”


	13. Episode 1: Chapter 6: Lost Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 of Episode 1 of War of Seasons

The entire room was in complete and total shock. Nobody was even sure how to respond to the bombshell that Professor Ozpin had just dropped.  Yang finally broke the silence by punching Ozpin’s desk clean in half.  
            “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CREATED THE ORDER?!” she yelled, her hair practically a raging fire with her eyes a deeper red than they had been in years.  As soon as Yang did that, everybody started yelling and screaming several different questions all at once.  Questions like, “what were you thinking” or “how is this possible” and every other question under the sun.  Professor Ozpin took a deep breath and stood up slowly.  The questions didn’t stop, so he tapped his cane on the ground, creating a small wave of magic that got everybody to stop talking all at once.  
            “I will explain everything, fret not” Ozpin said as he sat back down once everything was finally quiet.  “To better understand the situation though, we must go back to the beginning of time itself when this world was created.”  Everybody calmed down, and sat down on the floor, waiting for Ozpin to begin his story.  Clearing his throat, Ozpin began to tell his tale.  
            “This world began eons ago, when the gods of Light and Darkness came to this realm and decided to try a new experiment after some previously failed attempts.”  
  


 

**Eons Ago**

**Before This World Began**

**The Blank Void of an Empty Universe**

The gods of Light and Darkness, beings of absolute power, appeared out of thin air to witness a brand new canvas in which they could experiment and create.  
            “This is a truly intriguing undertaking you have given us brother” the god of Darkness said in a mocking tone as he surveyed the vastness of the nothing. “After our attempt with the last world we created fell apart due to that pesky human woman, how do you propose we conduct our experiments with this reality.”  The god of Light surveyed the nothing, and continued to ponder.  
            “In the last world we made, we created different forms of life that tied to our own personalities” the god of Light said as he paced back and forth thinking deeply.  “And as a result, you and I fought for supremacy of that world, which created conflict and shook the universe to its roots.  Then we came to the agreement of the creation of man, an entity that could choose for itself, while my creations and your creations lived alongside them.”  
            “Yes, and that in turn lead to a human trying to usurp our powers to try and save the life of a single lowly human being that we ended up giving the power of reincarnation to that fool that she loved so deeply.  How do you intend to deal with that world if he does gather all the relics together and proves that mankind is willing to live together? Will we abandon this world just to go back to that one?”  
            “We did promise Ozma that we would return if the four relics were united as one and pass judgement on our previous creation.”  
            “So we just leave this and any other worlds we create just to go back and destroy a world that we already left in a ruined state?” the god of Darkness fumed growing more and more agitated.  “Or do you just simply expect me to leave to pass judgement on our last creation while you stay here and create a world in your own light-bathed perfection leaving me with nothing once more?”  
            “I actually have a different idea for this world brother” the god of Light said as he waved his hand over the blank space.  In that moment, a human appeared.  A simple, plain human man.  
            “What is this idea you have brother?”  
            “In our last world, like you said, we created everything be it separately or together.  But I had a thought.  What if we created a being that would create the world in our stead?”  
            “Are you suggesting that we create another god brother?  Another one of our kind?”  
            “I wouldn’t suggest that, I have no desire to create another being that is our equal.  But perhaps instead of powers akin to ours, we imbue this person with magic unlike anything we gave the previous humans.”  
            “Magic is powerful indeed brother, but it lacks the power of creation.”  
            “Then we will give him relics, similar to the ones we gave Ozma, but with different powers and abilities so that this world may live and flourish.” With a wave of his hands, the god of Light then brought into existence four objects.  “First, the relic of Knowledge.  Much like the one we gave Ozma, we will leave this for our creation so that he can learn how to properly use the other relics as well as answer any questions he has and teach him everything he needs to know to function as a living being. Second, the relic of Connection” as the god of Light said this, a staff with two vines wrapping around it appeared. One vine was a bright white, the other a dark black.  “This relic will allow our creation to traverse across the world in mere moments to allow for easier connection with other people.  It can also open a gateway to where we are so that when the time arrives, we can meet our creation and see the world he has created without us to guide him.  And along with that, it can interact with the other two relics we shall bestow upon him.” With another wave of his hand, alongside the two previous relics, another two appeared.  One a rosary with a white crystal in the center of the apex, and another a black scythe.  “The relics of Life and Death.  Each can create and destroy anything with just a thought.  And when integrated with the relic of Connection, it can create pathways between the different realms of this world.”  
            “Realms brother?”  
            “Another suggestion I have for this world is that instead of having everything related to the two of us be connected like in the last world, I suggest we create two different realms for our creation to experience.  One that is built around my light energy, and the other built around your dark energy.”  
            “A light and dark realm then?  Seems a bit tilted in your favor brother.”  
            “It will be up to our creation to decide where he wants to live and what world he wants to create.  And since you and I will be absent from this world, neither you nor I will receive the same amounts of praise and worship as we had in our previous world.”  The god of Darkness pondered this possibility, and nodded his head in agreement.  
            “Very well brother” the god of Darkness said with a smirk.  “This world will be created by the design and the wishes of this creation.”  With that, the gods of Light and Dark poured their energies into creating this simple creation that would shape the world into whatever it wanted it to be.  Their labors completed, the two decided to depart this world.  However, unbeknownst to the god of Light, the god of Darkness left one small gift for the creation to discover.  A small pool of darkness left in the dark realm.  It wasn’t much, just a small amount of energy, but enough to spawn the creatures of Grimm that inhabited the realm of darkness.

 

Ages passed, and the creation finally awoke and began to set about the base task that was at the forefront of his mind.  Creating a world.  The creation was not sure what to do, but the relic of Knowledge was nearby to help teach the creation about how everything worked.  How the relics worked, how his body worked, and everything he needed to know in order to properly function.  There were several attempts to create a world in the past.  Some worlds were radiant and bright, others were dark and full of despair.  It was almost a never ending cycle of death and rebirth with different creatures and beings over the next several millennia.  The creation also took the time to explore the worlds that he had created to see what his limitations were.  During those travels, he discovered how to use the relics in different ways, including using the relic of Death with the relic of Connection to show him a path to another dimension, one that was crawling with dark and vile creatures.  The original creatures of Grimm.  While the creatures of Grimm did not attack the creation, the creation did not want anything to do with these monsters, so he left them in the realm of darkness, where they festered for ages more.  Then, one time during the cycle, the creation, who had created nothing but different forms of life separate from himself, decided that he wanted to create beings like himself.  Reaching down deep into the well of his magical powers, he felt two powerful pieces of magic that he thought he could use like he never had before.  He reached inside and found the powerful energy within him, split that energy in two, and gave the magic form.  This was the essential magic of light and darkness left behind by the gods for the creation to wield, and now he had given this magic form. Two children that were born in his image, yet unique in their own special ways.  The creation would name these children Ozpin and Salem, beings of pure light and darkness that would stand by his side for the rest of eternity.  Or at least, so he thought.  While sacrificing that level of magic to help create his children drained a lot out of him, the creation was greatly drained of magical power due to the creation of his children.  As a result, he slowly began to age.  He would seem to age about a year of normal human maturity in the span of a thousand years.  As time went on, he grew older and older.  His children were good company, but he desired more than that to be truly happy he felt.  So the creation took the relic of life and created several human beings, entities that would live short life spans compared to him and his children, but the creation would watch over them as their creator and guardian.  They humans were grateful, and praised the creation, calling him the Wizard, a name which the creation accepted as he had been given no name of his own.  However, each generation when the humans reached a certain point in their evolution as a species, they would grow demanding, wishing for more than the life that they had already been given by their creator.  This would happen regularly, and each time, the Wizard would grow angry and wipe out all of humanity in a single instant.  This would create conflict with him and his children. While Salem was more than willing to encourage her father to smite all those who opposed their will, Ozpin was more inclined to let the humans grow further, to let them see the error of their ways and learn from their experiences. 

 

This went on for millennia more until the Wizard was starting to take more and more the form of an old man, his time in this world rapidly coming to an end.  He had created another batch of humans a few centuries ago, and was contemplating if he should destroy them all now and be done with it or to let them rise up and kill him just so he could be done with it all.  That all changed when the four sisters first appeared at his little cottage in the woods. For the first time in his life and for the first time since he had started creating humans, the Wizard met people who were good and kind for the sake of being good and kind and not just because of his immense power or the fact that he created their ancestors. This touched his heart so much, that he decided to forgo the last of his magical powers and give them to the four maidens who showed him kindness.  This magic, the magic of the elements, was the last piece that was still keeping the Wizard’s longevity going.  Knowing that he would die much sooner than previously anticipated, the Wizard made sure that no one else could abuse or misuse the power that he had been bestowed by the gods.  He hid the relics well, telling no one, not even his own children where they were hidden. While he did live for a few more decades after passing on the magic to the maidens, the Wizard did eventually give way to old age.  As a result, the gods of Light and Darkness sensed this shift in the world they left their creation in, and made an appearance before the strongest two living pieces of the Wizard still remaining, Ozpin and Salem.  Both parties were beyond confused.  The gods asked where their creation was, and the children asked who they were.  The gods introduced themselves to Ozpin and Salem, and explained how their father came into being.  The children then explained to the gods what the Wizard did with this world over the course of the last millennia, and what had caused him to lose all of his magic and fade away into nothingness.  After everybody knew what happened, the gods offered to retrieve the relics the Wizard had hidden away so that they may use it, but they both refused, wishing to honor their fathers final wish to not have anybody misuse the power of the relics to harm anyone else.  With that, the gods agreed that they would let the world run its course without their interference or guidance.  However, they did say that if they ever needed their help or guidance, all they had to do was find the four relics, bring them together and they would arrive in a single moment to offer their aid.  With that, the gods departed this world and haven’t returned since then. 

 

After that, Ozpin and Salem took it upon themselves to see that the last remaining pieces of their father’s legacy, the maidens, were taken care of.  At first, they assumed they would have immortality, or powers similar to it due to how Ozpin and Salem both had immortality due to their ties to the light and darkness.  However, it became clear in the coming years that the maidens were not given any form of longevity in their lifespan, just the elements of magic that their father had given them as a gift.  So when the first of the maidens passed away, there were several questions floating around what would happen to the power next.  At first they assumed that the magic died within her, never to be used or seen again.  However, a few years passed and they found that the power had manifested in a new host, a young girl to be exact.  Initially they thought their father had made a mistake, perhaps a glitch in the magic that allowed for the magic to be used by whoever instead of the ones that the Wizard had intended for.  But as time passed and more and more people attained this power, it became clear that it wasn’t an accident.  Salem theorized that it was a final test by the Wizard, wanting to see what mankind would do if they were given such power.  Ozpin saw it as a gift, allowing for people to gain the ability to do good in order to help their fellow man.  Regardless of their stances on the subject, they decided that they needed to keep a log of all the people who had received the powers of the previous maidens, and find ways to help make sure that they were trained in how to use their powers as well as keep them safe, for as the centuries passed, it became clearer and clearer how the powers worked, and that resulted in several murders of maidens and people who misused the power left behind by the Wizard.  To help with this, Ozpin and Salem created the Order of the Four Seasons, a group that would be dedicated to logging all the names of the maidens, as well as listing all and potential powers that each of them possessed and how to properly train each of them with their specific maiden powers.  Another piece of that log was that they were tasked with trying to see if there was a pattern in the maiden selection process.  If somehow, the magic knew which type of soul would be the best host for the power.  Centuries passed like this, but there seemed to be no pattern that could be found. 

 

Following the clash between Ozpin and Salem, several pieces fell into place that day. With Salem fully embracing the power of the dark realm, several portals that were long dormant between the realms of light and darkness began to take shape, allowing Grimm to pass through and wreak havoc upon the humans of that world.  Ozpin knew that the world was going to face a great change moving forward, and that it was necessary for him to step away from the center stage in order for the world to grow into something better.  Something without the legacy of his father looming over it. So, Ozpin disappeared into legend, not reappearing until centuries later.  However, while living out his self-imposed exile, Ozpin took the relic of Knowledge and asked where the Wizard had hidden the other three relics.  The relic told him, and Ozpin made sure that he told no other living being.  Once he knew where his father hid the relics, he knew that there would be no possible way for anybody to find the other relics without the help of the relic of Knowledge.  During that time, Grimm grew more and more frequent, mankind had to take steps on their own in order to survive, and the Order was simply neglected.  Over the centuries without the guidance of Ozpin, it lost its true purpose, and took on a life of its own, taking root in the many different facets of the world of Remnant.  Once Ozpin returned, the Great War was about to transpire.  Ozpin saw this as an opportunity for himself to re-enter society and help shape the world into something better.  He fought alongside the kingdom of Vale during the conflict, and due to his heightened abilities, he was able to defeat the other kingdoms and establish a new world order that would be ruled by the people. Ozpin then took the opportunity to create a safe place to hide the relic of Knowledge.  Once Haven Academy was set for construction, Ozpin found several caves beneath the school grounds and built a vault that would keep the relic safe. He also imbued the door to the vault with a special magic.  One that would only allow the door to be opened by one who carried the power of the Spring Maiden, Salem’s former best friend.  Ozpin had hoped that by locking the relic in Haven, no one could ever access it and use it to find out the truth of the other relics and their overwhelming power.

 

 

 

**Present Day**

“So after I sealed the relic away, I made sure to entrust each person who took over the school to guard that vault with their lives, never truly telling them what was inside the vault” Ozpin said as he finished telling his story.  The entire room was silent, nobody was sure how to respond to all the information they had just received.  Ozpin sighed, stood up, and walked over to the window. “I did what I felt was best for this world.  To help make sure that nobody ever misused the power that the gods gave my father for the wrong reasons.  I had faith in humanity to forge their own path forward.  When the Order appeared for the first time, I thought it was just a coincidence.  Perhaps just a name passed down through the generations.  But now it is clear.  The Order knows about everything I did with the original Order eons ago, and are using it to achieve their own goals.”  
            “Any idea what those goals are?” Jacob asked, not sure what else to say.  
            “I have no idea” Ozpin said putting his hand on the window.  “But if they have access to more information from the past, then there’s no telling what they are capable of doing.”

 

 

 

 

**2 Hours After the Battle of Haven**

**The Headquarters of the Order**

**The Monolith Chamber**

Lord Imperia entered the chamber with the relic in hand, a huge smile stretched across her face.  One of the attendants of the Monolith walked over and took the relic from her and started hooking up different computer wires and different magical talismans to the relic.  
            “We should have the relic synced with the Monolith for information exctaction shortly my lord” the attendant said as they continued their work.  
            “Excellent” Lord Imperia said with a smile.  “Armed with the knowledge of all creation, we will accomplish our goals. We shall bring back what we have lost. And with that, reclaim what is rightfully ours.”  Lord Tenebris watched as Lord Imperia and the attendants continued to work with the Monolith, preparing it for the information extraction.  He turned and walked away, clenching his fists.

“No more will I listen to liars and pretenders.  No more will I be a slave to a family that doesn’t support me without question.  I will save my true family.  Whatever it takes.”


	14. Episode 1: Chapter 7: Breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7 of Episode 1 of War of Seasons.

Team GASH was making their way back to the dorms after their classes had ended, each of them bored out of their minds after sitting through Professor Port’s lecture.  
            “Oh my gosh!” Hera yelled ruffling her hair in annoyance.  “Why does Port think we care about the same stupid story about how he killed ten Boarbatusks with just one shot?  He’s told that story to pretty much every single student that has taken that stupid class?”  
            “Really?” Aurora said tilting her head in surprise.  “Surely he has to have told….”  
            “Nope” Gray said with a sigh.  “That’s his main story that he tells every single time he’s either lecturing students or meeting up with old friends.  Believe me, he has told that story to me and my family at least fifty times.”  
            “Consider yourself lucky” Sora said placing his hands behind his head. “Since my mom is headmistress at Haven, she has to listen to….”  They suddenly stopped talking when they saw their families walking away from Professor Ozpin’s tower, all of them in a complete daze.  Not sure how to react, Aurora was the first one to just rush over and embrace her parents.  The rest of Team GASH followed suit.  
            “I’m so glad you’re okay!” Aurora said as she hugged her parents even tighter.  
            “We heard about what happened at Haven” Sora said as he ran over to his parents as well.  “How bad is it?”  
            “As far as defeats go,” Ty said cracking his neck, “this one stung a bit.”  
            “So the Order has complete control over Mistral now?” Gray asked with a worried look on his face.  
            “Not exactly” Brooklyn said weaving her way past everybody.  “The Order skipped town as soon as they got whatever it was they were after beneath Haven academy.  But the Grimm that moved in will make rebuilding difficult.”  
            “What were they after exactly?” Hera asked scratching her head.  
            “We can’t say out in the open” Miles said with a sigh.  “Not until we are sure that nobody else is listening in.”  
            “Another one of those universe shattering stories from Ozpin I take it?” Aurora said with a smirk.  
            “Just about all of Ozpin’s stories are universe shattering, trust me” Christy said stretching her arms.  
            “So what now?” Sora asked looking around the group.  
            “I have to coordinate with everybody on what we are going to do next in preparation for the Order’s next more” Pyrrha said pinching her forehead.  “But first, I need to get a bite to eat.”  
            “I’ll join you” Evan said following Pyrrha to the cafeteria. Jacob, Ty, Brooklyn, Christy, Beanie, Weiss, Ruby, Bovia, Terra, and Jaune followed suit.  
            “You not going with them?” Gray asked Yang and Ember as they still stood there.  
            “Not really that hungry” Yang said as she clasped her right arm and walked towards the docks.  Ember sighed and started walking towards the dorms.  
            “I’m not in the mood for school food right now” she said picking up her pace.  Gray watched as the two of them went their separate ways.  He hesitated for a moment, but then started making his way towards where Ember had walked off too with Arri not far behind him.  Natalie sighed and decided to follow Yang to where she walked off to.  This left Miles, Blake, and the rest of Team GASH just standing around there.

            “I think I’m going to go talk with my parents” Sora said as he flew off to catch up with the rest of the group going to the cafeteria.  Hera  stood there, not sure where to go.  
            “What’s your plan dad?” Aurora asked placing her hands behind her head. Miles looked around, and pointed at the auditorium.  
            “I’m not super hungry, and I don’t feel like just sitting around. Want to get some practice in?”  
            “I’m in!” Aurora said almost excitedly.  She immediately ran straight over to the auditorium in an instant using her Semblance.  Miles sighed as he and Blake started making their way to where their daughter was impatiently waiting.  
            “You want to come with us Hera?” Blake offered turning back to her, almost forgetting that she was still there.  
            “I’m good actually” Hera said pulling out her Scroll.  “I’m going to text my sister, find out where she and Gray went off to.”   With that, Hera made her way to the dorms.  Shrugging their shoulders, Miles and Blake continued on their way to where their own daughter was waiting.

 

 

 

            Nobody really felt like talking.  Everybody just sat around the table picking and eating their food little by little.  Everybody seemed to just fidget and poke, not really sure how to respond.  Not just to the information that Ozpin had dropped on them, but the fact that they had lost Mistral in a single day.  Jacob was the first one to break the silence and slam his fist on the table.  
            “How did it get like this?”  
            “How did what get like this?” Brooklyn asked with a mouth partially filled with food.  
            “We beat the Order” Jacob said with frustration in his voice.  “We beat them, we stopped them from taking over the world, and all of a sudden, just like that, they’re back and causing us even more pain.”  
            “I get where you’re coming from” Ty said taking a quick sip of his water. “But they’re back now and we have to deal with it.”  
            “Well apparently,” Evan said clenching his fist, “they have been around longer than anybody outside of Ozpin.  So I guess it was stupid of us to assume that a group that old would be stopped by a bunch of teenagers and their teachers!”  
            “It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been around” Christy said pointing her fork at the group.  “We’ve stopped them before and we can do it again!  Heck, they’re just normal people trying to take over the world!  We took on the power that literally created this world, and won!  We…”  
            “We only won because of an assist from Salem, remember?” Ruby said taking a drink of milk from her glass.  “Ozpin told us, the only reason the power of the Wizard got disrupted was because Salem sacrificed herself to save the rest of the universe.  We had no chance of winning before that happened.”  
            “But we still held our own!” Jacob said raising his voice.  “We were just kids and we held our own with a god!”  
            “ _A_ god” Weiss said sipping her coffee.  “Singular.  And we only held our own because Mortem didn’t know his full potential yet.  He had barely used his powers for no more than a week.”  
            “On top of that,” Pyrrha interjected, “If what Ozpin said about the powers of the Wizard is true, than if Mortem truly had command over his powers, then he could have just as easily snapped his fingers and turned us all into dust in an instant.”  
            “Pleasant thought” Bovia said taking another bite of her sandwich.  
            “Okay, can we stop dodging the elephant in the room?” Terra said standing up suddenly.  Everybody looked over at her confused.  “You’re really going to make me say it?”  No response. “Fine.  First we lose Ember’s dad to these monsters, then we lose Mistral, and then we learn we lost something even more important that could lead to all of us getting destroyed by our enemies!”  Everybody fell silent once again.  Nobody knew how to respond.  They just returned to eating again, trying to take their minds off of everything.  But finally, there was some sniffling in the air. A couple of them had started shedding a few tears.  Some tried to hold it back, but couldn’t.  For the first time since everything got turned on its head, everything finally came out all at once.  There were tears, there were sobs, there were angry yells of frustration, questions of “why not me?” or “why Nathan?” and elements of that nature.  There were plenty of hugs to try and help.  Then, they all sat together again, and started to laugh and remember the good times they had all shared with Nathan in the past.  
            “Remember the time our second year when Nathan managed to somehow do a rimshot with three Beowolves to cause them to evaporate?” Ty said to laughter from the whole group.  
            “Yeah!” Evan said laughing while holding back tears.  “Remember when he would always respond to the question “what’s up” with “the ceiling?” every single time?”  
            “I can’t believe out of all the jokes that Nathan made,” Jacob said with a smile, “that’s the one that somehow Miles of all people started using all the time as well!”  Laughter and fond memories filled the cafeteria hall for the rest of the day, just remembering the person they had lost.

 

 

 

            Aurora rushed forward and tried to land a strike on her father, but he had already prepared his blade to block the incoming attack.  
            “You can’t rely on your Semblance over and over again Aurora” Miles said as he parried Aurora’s attack.  “You’ll run out of Aura before you can blink, and then you’ll be completely wide open.  On top of that, depending on your opponent, they could easily read your ability and defend it rendering it useless.”  
            “You only say that because you’ve trained me in how to use my ability dad!” Aurora said as she tried to use her speed once again to get the upper hand, but once again, Miles had already prepared for where Aurora was going to strike.  
            “You telegraph your movements too easily” Miles said as he held Aurora’s blades in place.  “Even if you’re moving faster than I am, your body is revealing every single step your are going to take before you take it.  I thought you had that whole training trip with both Ruby and Jacob to try and help get rid of that habit.”  
            “It did help a bit, but at the same time, they each have one piece of something that is uniquely my own” Aurora said pulling her blades out and resetting herself.  “I just need to get better at translating the general fighting technique that you and mom taught me into the speed force without making it too obvious.”  
            “At least you’re able to recognize your own weaknesses and move forward from that” Blake said as she continued to observe from the sidelines. “Most people your age just run with their weaknesses and just assume it will get better with age, but great warriors find new ways to improve themselves each and every day.”  
            “I’ll believe I’ve made some progress when I actually find a way to beat dad when he’s actually trying for a change” Aurora said as she launched a flurry of strikes that Miles managed to parry easily.  
            “I am trying.  You’re just too slow” Miles said jokingly.  He smiled, thinking that this would get Aurora mad, causing her to go crazy and potentially teach a good lesson about keeping a cool head, but to his surprise, Aurora pulled back her attack, put her swords away, and sat down. Sighing, she looked up at her father and asked,

“Dad, what’s wrong?”  Miles looked at her confused.  
“What do you mean?”

“You come back from a war zone, talk to Professor Ozpin for a few hours, and suddenly you want to train with me out of the blue?  Shouldn’t you and mom be resting?  Catching your breath and trying to heal after such a battle?”  Miles paused, put his blades away, then sat down.  
            “I don’t know.  I just don’t feel like sitting around doing nothing.”  
            “Making sure your well rested for when something bad happens is crucial to being a Huntress.  That’s what you told me when I wanted to go all out during my combat academy days.  So why do you get to get away with it?” Miles sighed at his daughters observation, and laid down on the ground, staring up at the ceiling.  
            “I feel like I could have done more.”  
            “The Order had us completely off guard” Blake said as she had started to walk over to where they were.  “It’s not your fault that they got away with the Relic.”  
            “It’s not just that.” Miles said as he sat back up.  “I’ve also been thinking about everything that lead to this point.”  
            “Such as?”  
            “What if I was a better friend to Nathan?  Or perhaps, what if I tried to do more to help him instead of letting him go down the path he did.”  
            “Dad, joining Nathan on his crusade wasn’t the answer” Aurora said placing her hand on her shoulder.  “You would have been killed too more than likely.”  
            “No, not being a better friend in the sense of blindly following him to the edge of the abyss on his crusade, but more what I could have done to try and help him from going on that path.  Despite the two of us not having the best start back in the day, we really did become like brothers.  He would look out for me when I needed help and I would look out for him.  And then when he reached this critical point in his life, he wanted me to join him on that path.  I could see right away that this path was going to cause nothing but pain and despair for not just him, but everybody around him.  And I was right.  Now I’m just left to wonder what could have happened if instead of letting him go off on that path.  Maybe I could have stopped him from doing everything he did.  Maybe I could have….” Before Miles could finish, Blake embraced him tightly.

            “There was nothing you could do” she said with tears in her eyes.  “Nathan went on the path he did because he thought it was better to pursue vengeance rather than his family.  You and I were almost both consumed by that path.  But we found each other, and now we’ve got a new path to follow together.”

            “I’m living proof of that” Aurora said with a smile, fighting back some tears of her own.  “Heck, if the two of you had never run into each other all those years ago, I wouldn’t be here today!  I’d consider that a win!” Everybody laughed at Aurora’s remark, and they all came together for one big group hug.

            “Thank you” Miles said as he finally let some tears of his own fall.  “This family means everything to me.  I will do anything to keep you safe.”

            “Same goes for us” Blake said with a smile.  The three of them just sat there, holding each other close, never wanting to let go.

 

 

 

            Yang sat on the edge of the docks, looking out over the skyline of downtown Vale off in the distance.  There wasn’t really any reason for her to simply be there, she just needed a moment. Dealing with not just the bombshell that Ozpin had dropped on them, but also everything else that had happened.  
            “You know,” Yang turned to see who the new voice belonged to and saw Natalie making her way towards where she was sitting.  “Nathan always told me that any time you two would go out on a date back in school, no matter what you did or where you went, you always ended up here. Looking out over the city.”  Yang smiled, and turned back to the horizon.  
            “Yeah” she said with a sigh.  “We both loved this view.  The idea that everything that we worked so hard to protect was just across the way over there.  All we had to do was learn how to protect the people out there by going to classes in buildings behind us.  We always loved that idea.  Looking forward at the bright future that we would share together.  At least until….”  Yang fell silent after that last bit.  Natalie nodded her head and sat down next to Yang.  
            “Yeah, I miss him too.”

            “You were his sister.  Of course you miss him.”  
            “Yeah, but you were his wife.  That counts for a whole lot.”  
            “It did.  Up until that whole Sons of Aequo thing”  Yang clenched her fist as she mentioned the name of the group.  Natalie lowered her head in shame, knowing full well how Yang felt about that crusade.  
            “You don’t regret not joining Nathan on his journey?”

            “I’ll admit, I was on the fence for a bit.  Nathan was my soulmate.  I loved him with every fiber of my being.  I gave up an arm to save his life back in the day.  And back then and for most of our marriage, I felt he would have done the same for me.  But when he started pursuing the Order with his group, I felt less and less confident that he would choose me over his mission.  I honestly felt like if I were to leave our children on Patch to go join Nathan on that journey of his, if I were to be in a life or death situation and there was also a key member of the Order in the room at the same time, I felt like Nathan would have gone after the Order member before even considering to save my life.”  
            “Nathan would have never done that.”  
            “How can you be sure?”  
            “Well, when he and I launched our attack against the Order, somehow some way, we were discovered by the enemy despite having the element of surprise. A lot of that day is hazy for me, but I feel like Nathan made sure that I survived instead of sharing the same fate. The Order is clearly out for blood. And the fact that they didn’t get their hands on me, the woman who killed their last leader, I think that says something about Nathan and him keeping me safe.”  Yang smiled when Natalie said this.  She leaned over and gave her a hug.

            “Thanks sis.  That helps a little bit.”  
            “Any way I could make it help a lot more?”  
            “Not unless you’ve got a way to get your brother back from the dead and make him a much better person than he was when he ran out on me” Yang said with a chuckle.  Natalie chuckled as well at the joke.  
            “I don’t think coming back from the dead works like that.”

 

 

 

            Ember sat on the roof of the dorms looking out across the entire campus of Beacon. She kept trying to focus on other topics like battle strategies, her own shortcomings when fighting the Order in Mistral, how she could be a better teammate to help support her friends like when they were students, and just about anything else that popped into her mind in that moment.  But every single time, her mind would wander back to that single moment in the caves with Lord Tenebris and the words that he said to her.  
            “I knew we’d find you here” Arri said as she appeared from the ground.  Arri, Gray and Hera were all standing on a platform of vines and branches that Arri had created stretching up to the roof of the dorms.  Ember smiled when she saw them and patted the empty space next to her, inviting them to sit down.  They obliged, and sat there in silence for a few minutes.  Then, Arri finally broke the silence by asking Ember,

            “Are you doing okay?  That weird guy in the mask really seemed to do a number on you.”  
            “I’m fine” Ember said pinching her forehead.  “It’s just, how can he say such a thing?”  
            “What thing?” Gray asked leaning towards his sister.  “What things?”  
            “Oh, right” Arri said with a small chuckle.  “You weren’t there.  And we only just got back.  Well, the short version is, we lost, and there was some weirdo in Mistral who namedropped the woman who Ember is named after.”  Everybody fell silent, but then Gray spoke up.  
            “He mentioned dad’s teacher?  What about her?”  
            “Only that I’m just a pretender” Ember said with clenched fists. “That I don’t deserve to carry her name or something like that.”  
            “And who is he to decide that?” Hera said leaning over to get a better view of Ember.  “Even if he knew the elder Ember, that doesn’t mean anything.  Your father gave you your name and you should be proud of that.  It was a name that he believed would bring honor. Just because some jerk in a mask says you aren’t worthy of the name doesn’t mean squat.  He was her student, and you are his daughter.  If anybody deserves to carry on the name, it is you.”  Ember smiled as Hera said this, and gave her a hug.  
            “Thanks Hera” she said, tears rolling down her eyes.  They all embraced each other, and sat there looking out over the campus.  
            “What do you miss most about him Gray?” Ember asked as they sat there.  
            “I miss his laugh” Gray said with a smile.  “He always had a great way of giving a room some new life even when it was the most boring event in the world.”  
            “I’d say it’s going to be his welcoming nature” Arri said looking up at the sky.  “He always tried to find new friends, and whenever somebody new in our lives showed up, he would make sure the felt welcome.”  
            “I don’t know about you,” Hera said with a chuckle, “but I’m going to miss his big cookouts.  Man, those were fun.”  
            “Hera, those were mostly coordinated by my mom” Ember said with a laugh.  “My dad couldn’t coordinate a big event even if he had a planner all lined up for him!”  They all started laughing, almost falling of the roof.  Regaining their composure, Ember said,  
            “I think I’m going to miss just being with him.  Whether it was training, jamming, or just hanging out and talking, I felt like he was always there for me.  Like I could go to him with anything on my chest and he’d hear all of it without complaint or issue.  And afterwards, he would always do something to try and get my spirits back up.  I think that’s what I’m going to miss the most.” The four of them continued to talk, wishing that things would go back to a simpler time before everything had changed so suddenly.

 

 

            Ozpin looked over the map once more, and touched a single point in the desert of Vacuo.  
            “You’re sure Oz?” Ironwood said over the phone.  “If you’re wrong and the Order catches wind of this, we might be in trouble.”  
            “Trust me James” Ozpin said standing up.  “This place is perhaps the key to figuring out the riddle of how the Order has kept their hands within the world of Remnant for so long, even with my absence.”

 

            “Who do you want to send in?”  
            “I have some people in mind for this operation.”


	15. Episode 1: Chapter 8: New Strategy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 8 of Episode 1 of War of Seasons.

**Beacon Tower**

 

 

“Are sure this plan will work?” Pyrrha said as she looked over the plans that Ozpin had laid out before them one more time.  
            “Trust me” Ozpin said taking a sip from his coffee mug.  “This will not only give us a much needed advantage against the enemy, but also possibly weed out any potential spies within our ranks.”  
            “It’s a risky play to be sure” Jacob said scratching his chin, “but I think we can pull this off.  Who do you have in mind for the primary operation?”  
            “Who else can you think of best suited for missions like this one?” Ozpin said with a wry smile.

 

 

 

**Vacuo**

**The Base of Operations of The Order of the Four Seasons**

            Lord Imperia continued to look over old charts and manuscripts that were scattered across the room of the Monolith.  She still couldn’t wrap her head around it.  No matter how many times that Lord Mortem had showed her this place or how many times she had been here herself, all this history about the world of Remnant long forgotten to the ages having been perfectly preserved in time for the future to read over.

            “Lord Imperia,” a voice echoed through the chamber, causing Imperia to jump a little bit in surprise.  She turned to see Lord Tenebris standing in the entryway to the Monolith chamber.  “The topographers want to share with you the different pieces of information and intel they have gathered up until this point on where the Relic of Life may be hidden.  They’ve narrowed it down to a few select regions.”  
            “Why go to them if you are just going to bring me this information regardless Lord Tenebris?”  
            “They wish to go a bit more in detail with you.  And to be honest, I can’t make heads or tails about what they’re talking about.”  Anima chuckled at Ferish’s remark and put down the scrolls she was reading over.  
            “Very well” she said dusting off her cloak.  “While I’m doing that, check in with Lord Sangui about the potential troops we may need to deploy for our next attack.”  Ferish nodded his head as Anima moved past him and made her way towards the war room.  
            “Lord Imperia, may I ask a question?”  Anima stopped in her tracks and turned to face Ferish.  
            “Depends.  How soon do the topographers need me in the war room?”  
            “I have shared my goals with you many times.  I have made it no secret of my desires and how far I am willing to go in order to achieve that goal.  And the Order is the best path for me to achieve that goal.”  
            “And we are grateful for your service to our cause Lord Tenebris.  Was that all?”  
            “Lord Imperia, what is your goal?”  Anima, taken aback at this question, slowly started walking towards Ferish.  
            “Why would you ask that Lord Tenebris?  Our victory is all that matters.”  
            “Yes, and I know what I would attempt to accomplish with victory. However, I do not know what it is you desire.  Ever since I have joined your crusade, I have served you without question.  I trust you above all others to tell me what is true unlike the lies fed to me by my false family.  However, what is your endgame?  What do you achieve by obtaining these relics?”  Anima, with each step towards Ferish that she took, she grew more and more agitated.  
            “What the Order will do after we win will be true balance to the world” Anima said as she ran her hand across the mask that covered Ferish’s face.  “A true world order that will bring this world together like Ozpin never could.  We will ensure that organizations like the Kingdoms don’t keep all the power for themselves instead of for the people, we will ensure that groups like the White Fang never do what they did to Aequo and claim it was in pursuit of a greater good, and we will ensure that this world is filled with people who support one another no matter what, unlike your fake family as you mentioned.” Ferish pondered this, then started to walk away.  
            “If you ever stray from that path Lord Imperia, know that I will destroy you and claim the Order for myself.”  
            “I expect nothing less.”  Anima said smiling as Ferish walked away.

 

            Anima entered the war room where the topographers were waiting.  
            “Lord Tenebris said you might have some leads on where we could possibly find the Relic of Life?”  
            “That is correct Lord Imperia” the lead topographer said pulling up a map. “Since the Monolith can only extract certain elements of knowledge and since we are bypassing the living entity within the lamp, we are only getting select information.  Alongside that, the Relic seems to be holding out information on us.”  
            “What do you mean?”  
            “Well, the Relic of Knowledge is inhabited by a spirit that calls itself Jinn.  And it says that you can only ask three questions once every hundred years.  But since we plugged it into the Monolith, we are extracting the information, bypassing the three questions rule.  As a result, we believe that the entity inside the Relic is keeping key information from us, making sure that we don’t find the Relic of Life super easily.”  
            “So that’s why it was only giving us information in riddles and vague clues. It doesn’t want us to find the rest of the relics.”  
            “That is correct my lord.  However, the riddles in and of themselves aren’t super hard to solve” as he said this, the topographer pulled up a message that read ‘if the Relic of Life you wish to take, only will you find it hidden at the bottom of the living lake’. “As far as we can tell, this means that the Relic of Life is hidden somewhere at the bottom of a lake that is teeming with life all around it.  We’ve narrowed our search down to a few select lakes within Remnant, but we are still looking to make sure we can pinpoint an exact location.  Along with that, the Monolith extracts more and more pieces of information at a time, which can lead us to getting a more definitive answer to where the Relic is hidden.”  
            “Excellent.  Keep me appraised of your progress” Lord Imperia said as she turned to leave.  “And start figuring out where the Relic of Connection is.  If it was so difficult to find out where the Relic of Life is, we need to make sure we find this next one as soon as possible.”  
            “As you wish my lord.”  Anima smiled as she closed the doors to leave the topographers to their work.  She then noticed Lord Sangui walking down the hallway towards the barracks.  She ran over and grabbed him by the shoulder.  
            “Lord Sangui, did Lord Tenebris talk to you about troops for future missions?”  
            “He did” Lord Sangui said with a smile.  “I am on my way to the barracks to take inventory of not just our troops, but also weapons and ammunition.”  
            “Keep me informed.  And make sure that we are prepared just in case Atlas or any of the other powerhouses are a bit more prepared than they were at Mistral.”  
            “Lord Imperia, I have a quick question.”  
            “I seem to be getting that a lot from my council lately.”  
            “What is the deal with Lord Tenebris?  I know the least about him amongst all the high ranking members of the Order.  I know we did that thing where…..”  
            “All you need to know about Lord Tenebris is that he will serve us well in the coming battles.  His drive to try and gain what he desires will ultimately result in our absolute victory.”  
            “But why him?  Out of all people, why him?”  
            “Why not him?”  
            “It seems like a waste to use your abilities to warp his mind to join our cause and fight for us.”  
            “That’s the beautiful thing about it Lord Sangui.  I barely had to use my Semblance at all.  It only took waking up a single idea in his brain, and all of a sudden he was ready to cast aside his old life and take on a new one with us.”  
            “How can you be sure that he won’t stray from the path that has been laid before him?”  
            “He has abandoned everything related to who he was prior to the war.  Before the entire world of Remnant, he declared himself as Lord Ferish Tenebris, member of the Order of the Four Seasons.  He wants to help us find these Relics and open the final door.  Granted, his goals don’t match our goals, but I do believe that he will play a critical role in ensuring our victory against Ozpin and his lackeys in future encounters.”

            “And how will he ensure victory if you don’t mind my asking?  He doesn’t seem to have any real special abilities in battle compared to the rest of us.  What makes him so special?”  But before Anima could answer the question, her communicator started beeping.  She pulled it out and activated the hologram projector to speak to the person, a Order member dressed in the uniform of an Atlesian guard, on the other end.  
            “What’s going on?” she asked intently.  
            “Sorry to disturb you my lord,” the Order soldier said, “but there have been whispers that Ozpin is moving an object of great power from Atlas to Vale.”  
            “Any idea what it could possibly be?”  
            “No, they’ve been pretty tight-lipped.  But they have all hands on deck for this one.  It might be the relic they hid here.”  A huge smile crept across Anima’s face.  
            “Ozpin thinks that by gathering all the Relics together, he can stop us from completing our goal.  But he just made our lives a lot easier.  Keep your head down, I’m sending an attack team to intercept.  Wait for my signal, then take them down.  We’ll catch them by surprise and the Relic will be ours!”  
            “As you command my lord.”  The Order soldier saluted then ended the communication.  
            “This is perfect” Lord Anima said with a smile.  “Prepare my ship and mobilize all available troops!”  
            “Lord Imperia, I don’t think this might be the best play” Lord Sangui said as he started running to keep up with Anima.  
            “Nonsense!  The Relic of Knowledge is being difficult, so if we take one piece off the board, we make less work and wait time in order to claim what we need.”  
            “That’s not the point.  We’ve just gotten back from taking down Mistral, and that took a lot of our forces. Now you want us to go up against Atlas with them prepared for us?”  
            “They aren’t expecting us, that’s the whole point.  Plus, we can finally get some good use out of our spies, and catch the enemy off-balance and claim yet another victory!  Now enough dallying!  Prepare the troops!”  
            “As you wish my lord.”  Lord Sangui said as he started running towards the barracks.  Anima made her way to the armory and loaded her staff with several Dust cartridges for the coming battle.  All loaded up and ready to go, she made her way to the airfield.  Boarding her personal airship, the small strike team took off and began to make their way towards Atlas.  Anima smiled as she watched the rolling sands of Vacuo fly beneath their airship.  Suddenly, another call started to come through her communicator.  
            “Did you forget about me my lord?” the voice cut through the communicator as the form of Lord Tenebris took shape in the hologram projector.  Anima simply sighed.  
            “This happened super quickly and I didn’t have time to get you on board for battle.  On top of that, I need somebody that I can trust to guard the base.  Make sure everything stays secure until we return. I trust you to keep the Order safe in case we give our location away.”  Lord Tenebris was clearly upset that he was being benched for this mission, as he simply clenched his fist and hung up.  Anima put her communicator away and returned to staring out the window.  
            “Soon, we will be yet another step closer to bringing him back.”


	16. Episode 1: Chapter 9: Bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9 of Episode 1 of War of Seasons

**The Kingdom of Atlas**

 

 

 

            Miles was trying to keep himself from getting bored while standing around.  Ozpin hadn’t even told everybody what the plan was, he simply said that a select team was going to Atlas in order to transfer another one of these Relics to Beacon for safekeeping.  It didn’t make any sense.   Why would Ozpin move the Relic from the most advanced, militaristic and secure kingdom in Remnant to a place that has been attacked and overrun on multiple occasions?  Before he could ponder further, Ty walked up right next to him.  
            “Why do you think that….”  
            “Ozpin is moving the Relic from here to Beacon?” Miles said cutting Ty off.  “I’ve been asking myself the same exact question.”  
            “Actually, I was going to ask why did he only take a few of us?  He left Christy, Brooklyn, Ember and a good amount of our other friends back at Beacon.”  
            “Probably to make sure Beacon doesn’t get trampled while we’re gone.”  
            “If that’s the case, then why take all of our best fighters here to Atlas and not leave them in Beacon?”  
            “Are you discounting the fighting ability of that group of people?”  
            “No, they’re all great fighters in their own right.  But why not leave somebody like Pyrrha or Jacob or somebody who is a fighting prodigy?”  
            “Ozpin probably wanted all the prodigies here to protect the Relic” Evan said as he walked over to join the group.  “If the Order already has one of the four, probably not a good idea to risk potentially losing another one just because we left our strongest friends back at home.”

            “Still, who’s to say that the Order isn’t playing us?” Miles said scratching his chin.  “After all, if the Relic of Knowledge can tell them as much as Ozpin claims it can, they might have found out where the other relics are hiding and are making a beeline for the ones that are unguarded at this very moment while we stand around to guard one that probably won’t do us much good if the Order gets their hands on it.”

            “I’m not sure about that last part” Ruby said as she walked over as she twiddled her thumbs.  “The Relic of Connection can create portals to pretty much anywhere in the world without much thought.  Yes, the Order might be planning an attack on wherever the remaining relics are hidden.  But at the same time, if they had the Relic of Connection, all they would have to do is think it and boom.  They have to just take a few steps in order to obtain their prize.”

            “Still, feel like the Relics of Life and Death carry a bit more weight and importance to keep out of the wrong hands instead of protecting something that’s already sealed away in the most advanced country in all of Remnant” Miles said cracking his neck.  “Where would we even move this thing that’s more secure than Atlas headquarters?”  But before anybody could comment on Miles’ statement, an alarm started going off.  The automated computer voice began relaying instructions.

            “ALL HANDS, BATTLE STATIONS.  I REPEAT, ALL HANDS, BATTLE STATIONS.  CODE 2814 IS IN EFFECT.  ALL PERSONEL….” As the machine droned on, everybody prepared their weapons, not sure where the enemy was coming from, or who they were bringing.  Suddenly, there were extremely loud crashes on the top of the roof.  Miles, Ty, Evan, and Ruby all got in a circle, making sure they had eyes on every potential entry pont.  Suddenly, the ceiling shook even more than previously.  The lights started to flicker, and everything seemed like it could be destroyed in a matter of moments.  
            “Strike ships” Ty said as he morphed his sword to bazooka form.  “Always hated these things.”  
             
            “If you hated them back then,” Ruby said with a smile, “you’re going to hate their newest update.”  
            “And what kind of update is that?” Before Ruby had a chance to tell Ty, the ceiling exploded and the strike ships flew in.  They were small pods that were armored, and had small turrets mounted on the sides.  The second they got into the main hallway, the turrets came to life, forcing the group to find cover behind a nearby corner.  
            “Since when could they actually burrow into a bunker or military base?!” Ty asked as he checked his aura levels, making sure that his defense hadn’t been damaged too much.  
            “Since about the fifth line of that make of ship” Ruby said as she loaded dust cartridges into her weapon.  “After the Battle of Vytal, Ironwood wanted to ensure that….”  
            “History lesson later maybe?” Evan said as he pulled out his spear.  “I might have an idea of taking them all by surprise.”  
            “This had better work or else we’re in trouble” Miles said as he drew his blades.

 

 

 

            Weiss was frantically pacing back and forth through her office.  The attack had begun, and she wasn’t sure how well Atlas could handle the attack, especially givne Ozpin’s plan.  
            “Are you certain this will work professor?” Weiss asked as her pacing grew more and more frantic.  “We might have played our hand wrong.  They read us like a book!  We should find a new strategy!”  
            “Calm down Mrs. Schnee” Ozpin said taking a sip of his coffee.  “There’s a reason everybody is located where they are right now.”  After saying that, he turned his attention to the other side of the room where Ironwood was doing several calculations with his other generals.  
            “How close are we James?” Ozpin asked hovering over Ironwood’s shoulder.  
            “We need more time” Ironwood said wiping the sweat from his forehead.  “But we could have it ready to go within the next fifteen minutes.”  
            “I just hope everybody can stay alive for that long” Weiss said as she tried to get a handle on her breathing.

 

 

 

            All the turrets didn’t know where their targets had disappeared to.  A few moments ago, the heat signature detection apparatus on the ships were picking up four life forms behind a corner, but all of a sudden, there was nothing.  One of the lieutenants activated a holo message with Lord Imperia on the other end.  
            “Lord Imperia, we have infiltrated the west wing.  Will proceed to secure target.  You may prepare your approach.”  
            “Good work lieutenant” Lord Imperia said with a smile.  “Make sure that the west wing is secured for when I make my descent.  Once the enemy recognizes who’s here, we won’t have much time before they fire on us.”

            “Very good general” the lieutenant said as he hung up.  But just as he put his Scroll away, suddenly the four they were hunting down had suddenly appeared almost out of thin air.  They leapt out of the hallway and background, almost like they were jumping right through a paining.  Within that opening, everybody struck down all the enemy soldiers in the vicinity.  There was almost no chance for the Order soldiers to even have their brains comprehend what had happened, everything had just happened super quickly.  Ruby then looked up through one of the holes left behind by one of the strike ships.  She noticed that the Atlesian air force had already taken to the sky, and was combating several different Order fighters and bombers.  The Order seemed to have the upper hand, but they clearly had only done some minor changes and upgrades to their arsenal as compared to Atlas who was constantly improving their technology.  On top of that, most of their ships still had some clear battle damage from Mistral, making shooting them down that much easier.  However, Ruby noticed that the main airship was making a beeline straight for where they were standing.  She quickly pulled out her Scroll and called Ozpin.

            “Hey Oz,” Ruby said in a nervous voice, “I think their leader is coming down to meet us.”  


 

 

            “Stay calm Mrs. Rose” Ozpin said seeming the most in control that he had in a long while.  “Where is your current location?”  
            “Right now?” Ruby said with a confused look.  “Well, we’re in the west wing of the Academy.  We took down a couple strike ships as well as the soldiers inside, but that’s about it.  It’s almost as if their entire plan was to just run straight at us without a plan and hope for the best.”  
            “Keep them occupied” Ironwood said as he continued his calculations.  “We’re just about ready on our end.”  
            “Is it ready then James?” Ozpin said as he gazed at the giant wall of code.  
            “Yes,” Ironwood said as he showed off a piece of the virus that he and other Atlas techs had made.  “Long-range communications for the Order will be jammed.  The furthest they can contact is only between their airships in the nearby vicinity.  We can keep them from talking with their base.”  
            “Excellent” Ozpin said with a smile and another sip of coffee.  He then pulled out his Scroll and began going through his contacts to find exactly who he was looking for.

 

 

 

Lord Imperia watched as the airship slowly descended to the west wing of Atlas Academy.  
            “Something doesn’t feel right” Lord Imperia said as she started to grow more worried the closer they got to the Academy.  
            “What specifically doesn’t feel right my lord?” Lord Sangui, who had been acting as the second in command on the ship, asked Lord Imperia directly.

            “It’s almost as if they want us to attack them in this manner.”  
            “What would you have me do about it my lord?”

            “Lord Sangui,”Lord Imperia said turning to face him.  “I want you to take a ship and infiltrate a different wing of this building, see if you could possibly find the Relic in a place they didn’t expect us to be.”  
            “Any particular reason why you don’t want me to be a part of the primary strike force my lord?”  
            “Call it insurance” Lord Imperia said as she turned back to the window to continue observing the descent.  “I feel like they were ready for us, and that doesn’t always end well, especially against a power house like Atlas.”  
            “Then I will ensure our victory and help us regain the element of surprise my lord.”  With that, Lord Sangui made his way to the stealth pods and prepared to launch himself deep behind enemy lines.

 

 

 

**The Kingdom of Vacuo**

Christy kept sharpening her axes, anxiously awaiting the call from Ozpin.  Suddenly, her Scroll buzzed and she opened it almost instantly.  
            “The Order has taken the bait” Ozpin said with a smile on his face.  “You may begin your operation.”  
            “With pleasure professor.”  With that, Christy hung up and turned to her team consisting of herself, Brooklyn, Ember, Natalie, Terra, Auora, and Hera.  She gave them the signal, and they all got their weapons prepared.  Looking over the ridge, they saw a deep valley.  But instead of the drifts of sand and rock that one would expect in the wilds of Vacuo, this specific valley had a gigantic temple.  A gigantic temple face leading deep into the ground below the surface.  
            “Is this it?” Christy asked looking over at Natalie.  Natalie walked up, and clenched her fist in anger.  
            “Yeah.  My memories may be fuzzy, but I still remember that place.  This is the Order’s secret base.”  
            “All right then” Brooklyn said with a smile and a crack of her knuckles.  “Time for a little payback.”


	17. Episode 1: Chapter 10: The Great Labyrinth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10 of Episode 1 of War of Seasons.

Christy took point as the team took their position hiding behind giant sand drift hills overlooking the base.  There wasn’t much security, just a few guards and a pair of security drones patrolling the sky.  Surveying the situation, she looked over at Natalie and Ember.  
            “Ember, how well can you phase into the ground?”  
            “It’s tricky,” Ember said cracking her knuckles, “but I can go at least fifty yards before I need to come back up and not sink deeper into the ground.”  
            “That’s more than enough.  You take the guard on the left, Natalie, you take the guard on the right.”  
            “What about the drones?” Natalie asked as she started to turn invisible.  
            “Brooklyn and I will take care of them” Christy said morphing her axe to rifle form.  “Aurora, be ready to possibly run down to take care of any potential hidden turrets or surprise alarms.”  
            “Will do Professor” Aurora said as she stretched her legs.  Ember started to sink into the ground like it was quicksand, but kept her forehead just above the ground so that she could still breathe and see where she was going.  She made sure that her camo headband was set correctly so that her hair wouldn’t stand out like a sore thumb in the middle of the desert.  As she moved closer and closer, she also made sure that she could see the small footprints that Natalie was leaving in the sand to ensure that she was ready to strike the moment that Christy gave the signal.  Ember positioned herself right behind her designated guard, and got her weapons ready.  Then, Christy and Brooklyn fired their rifles at the drones, causing the guards to reel back a bit as the drones started to fall out of the sky.  But before they could even react, Natalie and Ember had the two of them in choke holds and gagging them so that they didn’t make a sound to alert anybody else.  Ember then quickly snapped the neck of the guard and waved the team down.  Natalie was about to follow suit, but then noticed that the guard was fumbling around his belt, trying to reach his radio.  Natalie grabbed his arm to stop him from sounding the alarm, but that meant she had to release part of her hold on the guard, giving him the chance to try and fight back.  He spun around and broke free of Natalie’s hold.  But before he or Natalie could do anything, a sword impaled him through the chest.  Aurora had used her speed to rush forward and make sure the guard didn’t have any time to react.  To make sure he didn’t sound the alarm with his last breath, Aurora then sliced off both his arms and stabbed him through the head.  The soldier fell to the ground, his blood pouring out onto the sand.  
            “What the heck did your dad teach you on Menagerie?” Hera said wincing watching Aurora take down the guard.  
            “The methods to survive” Aurora said as she cleaned her blade.  “Besides, this is war.  It’s kill or be killed.”   
            “Plus,” Christy said as she pulled out a small hacking tool and attached a cable to a nearby communication panel, “if we had left them unconscious, there’s a good possibility that they could have woken up while we were still searching for our target.  And that would have lead to them finding us even faster.”  
            “If you say so” Hera said as she loaded her weapons.  
            “Trust me,” Terra said with a smirk, “this is how you need to do stealth in order to survive out here.  War or otherwise.”

            “Dually noted” Brooklyn said as she morphed her weapon from rifle form to shield form.  “How are we looking Christy?”  
            “We’re in” Christy said pulling out her Scroll and bringing up a layout of the base.  “We now have access to the layout of the base.  I’ll send it to everybody in a moment.  Along with that, the feedback loop of the drone cameras are now running with the security inside hopefully none the wiser.”  
            “So where do we find the Relic?” Aurora asked as she put her swords back in their sheaths.  
            “I don’t know” Christy said as she managed to get the door hacked open.  “Can’t risk them finding out we’re here by digging through their private files and tipping them off.”  
            “So how do you want to play this?” Natalie said as she and everybody else made their way into the base.  
            “Well, Ozpin told us that he helped build this place back when he first created the Order, so that means any technology can be expected to be shotty and not fully integrated with the base.  I’ll make sure that each camera has a loop playing to keep us from being detected.  But it’s too dangerous for us to move as a single large group.  Natalie, you and Hera will be a team and explore the western wings and upper levels.  Brooklyn, you will take Aurora and Terra and scope out the eastern wings and middle levels.  Ember, and I will head to the lower levels and see what we can find.  Keep all communicators on short-range frequency and on the secret channel.  I can’t stress this enough, we can’t let them know we’re here.  Once you find the Relic, call it in.  Once we have secured it, we can begin phase two of the operation.”  
            “Sounds good” Brooklyn said as she pulled up the layout of the base and started making her way towards her target with Aurora and Terra close behind.  Natalie and Hera simply snuck their way to their destination, leaving Christy and Ember to start working their way towards the stairs.  
            “I hope this works” Ember said as they started descending to the lower levels.  
            “It’ll work” Christy said with a smile.  “They don’t suspect a thing.”

 

 

 

Lord Tenebris was growing more and more upset as he tried to find anything to pass the time while waiting for Lord Imperia to get back from the attack on Atlas.  With nothing better to do, he made his way over to the main security room and started looking over the feeds.  He saw a lone guard sitting at the main computer console, watching over all the different cameras that were surveying the base.  As he kept watching the footage, it grew clear that this was not going to help him get his mind off things, so he turned to leave when something caught his eye.  He pushed the guard to the side and pulled up a feed of the cameras that were patrolling outside the gates.  He noticed something moving in the background.  A small desert dog was bouncing through the sands of the nearby desert.  Nothing really to concern himself with, but he did notice one strange thing.  As he kept watching, he noticed that after a short period of time, the tracks from the animal would disappear out of existence in a single instant.  And then moments later, the same dog would appear and leave tracks in the same exact location.  Growing concerned, Lord Tenebris pulled up other cameras of people around the base, trying to see if he could find something that would help him find the answer he was looking for.

 

 

 

Natalie propped herself up against the corner of a nearby wall, Hera wasn’t far behind her making sure nobody was behind them.  Peeking around the corner, Natalie saw a pair of guards standing right in front of a secure vault.  She then turned invisible and slowly made her way over to where the guards were standing.  Slowly but surely, she managed to get to a point where she was able to take out her weapon, and place it right between the two guards.  And in a single motion, she slashed the two guards down, giving Hera quickly made her way over to Natalie as she reappeared and started assessing the door.  
            “It wouldn’t have killed you to steal some door codes while you were inside Christy?” Natalie said as she looked over the keypad with complete confusion.  
            “Maybe I could slip through the cracks and open the door from inside?” Hera said as she stretched her arm out a short distance.  Natalie nodded her head in agreement, and Hera managed to get her body thin enough where she could slip through the tiny single open crevice in the door that she could fit through.  It took a moment, as Hera didn’t want to accidentally catch herself on something that could potentially stretch her body beyond her limit.  But she managed to squeeze through and open the door without any problems whatsoever.  Natalie came through the door, and saw that it was the armory for the Order.  
            “Well, it’s not the Relic” she said as she reached inside her pack, “but it’s a good start for phase two.”  While saying this, Natalie pulled out several explosive charges and started attaching them to different weapons and explosive throughout the armory.  Hera followed suit, the two of them working quickly, as they both sensed that they weren’t going to remain this lucky forever.

 

Lord Tenebris continued to pour over the security footage, determined to find something that would confirm his rising suspicions.  Then he finally saw it.  Something that he knew was impossible.  A camera showing that he himself was walking down a corridor to the barracks.  
            “They’re feeding us a loop” he said as he punched the table in frustration.  “Alert the guards, we are now on silent high alert.  Don’t let them know we’re on to them.  Contact Lord Imperia, she needs to know what’s happening here.  I’m going to the Chamber of the Monolith.”  With that, Lord Tenebris started running towards the chamber at full speed, not sure what he would see when he arrived there.

 

 

 

Brooklyn continued to lead the way deeper and deeper into the base.  Aurora would occasionally run ahead to scout for enemy guards with her speed to be there and back before a normal person could process her presence.  They finally reached a giant hangar door where several guards were standing by keeping a vigilant watch over the hangar.  Brooklyn morphed her weapon from shield form to rifle form and took up a position behind some nearby crates and prepared to fire.  Terra hid behind some nearby crates as well, and surveyed the area for nearby rocks that she could potentially drop on the heads of unsuspecting soldiers.  Aurora drew her blades knowing full well what her role in this attack would be.  Brooklyn gave Aurora the signal, and she ran forward, slicing and dicing every single enemy in her path.  Before they could even process what was happening, a good chunk of the soldiers were already dead on the floor from Aurora’s attack.  In order to preserve her aura, Aurora didn’t run to her limit, opting instead to run to the center of the room and beckon the soldiers to come at her.  Those who remained drew their weapons and charged forward at Aurora, expecting her to use her speed again to take them down.  But Aurora simply stood there, parrying any and every attack that came her way and masterfully slicing up her opponents in seconds.  Along with that, Brooklyn and Terra were picking off soldiers that were either too far back for Aurora to hit with her swords, or were starting to overwhelm Aurora with their attacks.  Aurora simply smiled, breathed in deeply, and remembered the training that her father had given her.  She then took her swords and did three powerful strikes that sent her enemies flying and into the bullets and rocks of Brooklyn and Terra.  Within minutes, the soldiers were down and the path was clear.  They then made their way over to the main doors and found a key card access port they could use from one of the defeated guards.  They then saw that the hangar while mostly empty since they sent a good portion of their airships to attack Atlas, there was still a few power ships left over and plenty of fuel for them to plant their charges on.  
            “Well this is great for later, but where’s that leave the Relic?” Aurora said as she finished planting her charge.  Suddenly, their communicators went live.

             “This is Christy.  I’ve found the Relic, but there’s a small complication.”

 

 

 

Christy and Ember made their way down the hall and saw a small door with the Order’s insignia on the front.  There were several guards patrolling that particular door, but hardly and security outside of a simple card reader.  She didn’t question it though, and started to sneak her way towards the door.  Ember followed suit, phasing into the walls as well to avoid any detection by the enemy.  The guards didn’t notice them at all until it was too late.  Christy took out one of the guards with a quick strike from her axe, while Ember used the choke hold again to subdue her opponent.  With the guards out of the way, the path was clear.  Christy took one of the key cards and opened the door.  When they stepped inside, she couldn’t believe what she saw.  A giant computer, bigger than anything she had seen or could comprehend.  It looked archaic, like something from over fifty years ago.  But she quickly shook that off and started surveying the room.  She then saw Ember standing next to a blue glowing lamp that was hooked up to the computer.

            “Fits Ozpin’s description” Ember said as she took all of the wires from the Relic.   “This must be it.”  
            “Ok” Christy said as she pulled out her explosives.  “Let’s plant these and get back to….”  
            “So, you managed to find your way here” Christy and Ember jumped and spun to face the new voice.  Lord Tenebris was standing right there, his tuning fork sword already drawn and ready for battle.  Ember felt her rage grow even stronger than last time and prepared her weapons.  
            “Your weapons are nothing original child” Lord Tenebris said with a laugh.  “They are simply a combination of your parents weapons, something that can easily be replicated.  Much like your name, everything you are is borrowed and a copy of a better version.  Every single piece of yourself….”

“Anybody ever tell you that you talk too much?” Ember said as she rushed forward to start fighting Lord Tenebris.  Their first clash sent a shockwave throughout the entire room.  Christy managed to stay on her feet, and activated her comm link.  
            “This is Christy” she said as she grabbed hold of the Relic.  “I’ve found the Relic, but there’s a small complication.”  As she said this, Ember came flying back towards her having been launched by one of Lord Tenebris’ attacks.  Ember was slow to get up, while Lord Tenebris simply laughed as Christy took up a battle stance.  
            “You fools have no idea who you are facing.” Lord Tenebris said pointing his blade at Ember.  “I may have failed to end you in Mistral, but I will not fail this time.”  
            “Funny,” Ember said as she got back up, “I was going to say the same about you.”  
  



	18. Episode 1: Chapter 11: Drive Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11 of Episode 1 of War of Seasons.

As the main airship continued to descend to where Ruby, Miles, Ty and Evan were positioned, Ruby grew more and more anxious.  
            “Ozpin, I really think we could use some backup over here” she said growing more and more agitated.  
            “Patience Mrs. Rose” Ozpin said once again.  “Once the main airship lands, then we will be able to begin our counterattack.”  
            “I just wish you told us what that counterattack plan was before we ended up staring down the barrel of their big gun!”  
            “Worry not Mrs. Rose.  So long as they head straight to you without deviating from their plan, we will ensure victory.”  
            “Great, that makes me feel so much better.”

 

 

 

            Lord Imperia loaded her staff with Dust for the upcoming battle.  She then walked over to the main console and pulled up a projection of the aerial battle that was taking place.  Most of the Atlesian ships were still spread out, trying to take out any airships that weren’t in range of the Order’s flagship.  Lord Imperia quickly typed in a code for the console to highlight Lord Sangui’s ship.  The console showed that he managed to slip away from the battle undetected and was starting to get closer to his target, that being the wing of the Academy opposite of where the flagship was.  She grabbed her communicator and sent a signal to Lord Sangui.  
            “Lord Sangui,” she said as she made her way back to the main window of the helm, “have you faced any resistance to this point?”  
            “Negative my lord” Lord Sangui responded.  “The enemy has no idea that I or my team are even in their airspace away from the battle.  We will be touching down to begin our infiltration in a few moments.”  
            “Keep me updated when you can.  I still think that Ironwood is playing a longer game than we anticipated.”  
            “I will make sure to my lord.”

 

 

 

Lord Sangui put his communicator away after Lord Imperia ended the transmission.  He then moved up to the cockpit and looked out to where they were going to infiltrate.  The warehouse where all of the Atlesian Knights and other android soldiers and mech suits were kept.  Hoping that with the attack being centralized around the main airship, Lord Sangui had his team lower the airship on top of the warehouse.  The ship hovered there allowing for the strike team to get off and let the airship take off and stay away from the fight and be ready for a potential evac.  With that, one of the grunt soldiers started cutting into the roof of the warehouse, and carefully removed it.  The other soldiers and Lord Sangui then attached cables to descend into the facility.  Within moments, they were all within the entire strike team had descended to the ground floor and had taken up position.  Lord Sangui looked around and didn’t see any type of movement or heard the sounds of any machinery coming to life.  None of the lights were on and there were no other sights or sounds that signified that they had been found.  He then motioned towards one of the Atlesian Paladins, hoping that through their stolen access codes they could activate the Paladins and possibly put Atlas in a bind.  Suddenly, the lights turned on and all the machines came to life.  Several Atlesian soldiers and other Atlesian Knights appeared as well and took aim at the Order soldiers.  Jacob and Pyrrha walked out with big smiles on their faces as they drew their weapons.  
            “Honestly,” Jacob said as he prepared a pair of kunai, “when you attacked Mistral it was a big coordinated planned attack.  Now it seems like you’re just so desperate for anything you’re willing to throw everything at the wall for this!”  
            “That seems to be kind of a theme for their group” Pyrrha said mockingly.  “They get the upper hand then lose it when one single thing seems to fall out of place.  They did it when we were kids and they’re doing it again!”  
            “Yeah but last time they had the power of a literal god on ther side, what do they have this time?”  
            “What we have,” Lord Sangui said as he took up a battle stance, “is enough determination and numbers to destroy you all.”  
            “Big talk from somebody who is literally surrounded by the worlds largest military” Jacob said as he threw a lightning charged kunai at the Order soldiers.  Within that moment however, something popped up from the ground and absorbed the attack.  A gooey looking person then started to melt into the floor like snow melts in summer.  Lord Sangui then started slapping the backs of every soldier that he could touch, and suddenly several more Order soldiers materialized out of thin air.  Some looked lifelike, others looked like slime monsters.  
            “Numbers aren’t an issue for me as you can see” Lord Sangui said with a smile.  Jacob surveyed the new foes, cracked his knuckles, and signaled the Atlesian troops to open fire on the Order.  
            “What good are numbers against superior strategy?”  With that, the Atlesian soldiers fired and the Order troops either took up defenses or scattered to find whatever cover there was available.  Any supply boxes or transport vehicles or anything.  But it was almost as if the entire space was set up in preparation for a potential attack.  
            “Surrender” Pyrrha said as she took a few shots at the hiding soldiers.  “You have nowhere to run to.”

“I don’t need to run” Lord Sangui said as he took a knee.  As soon as he did so, several Order soldiers surrounded him, as if to protect him from incoming attacks.  The Atlesian knights continued to target all the enemy soldiers, but even if one that was guarding Lord Sangui fell, another guard leapt up and took his place to ensure that he was not injured.  Moments later, several clones appeared around Lord Sangui, but this time they all looked exactly like Lord Sangui, with only slight variations that made them all stand out.

“Now, we are fully ready to face you!” all of the Lord Sangui clones said in unison.  With that, they leapt out and started attacking anybody they could.  The original Lord Sangui remained in the center of the circle of Order soldiers, almost as if he himself had been shut down and stuck in that position.  Pyrrha saw this, but didn’t have time to react as one of the Lord Sangui clones leapt up and started fighting her one on one.  She looked to see if she would have any form of support, but everybody else had their hands full with other clones of Lord Sangui.  She then noticed something interesting about each of them.  The one she was fighting was cackling and laughing like a madman.  One was fighting Jacob with ferocity and anger without much thought for strategy.  And then there were other clones that seemed to be much more tactical with their attacks while fighting the Atlesian knights and other troops.  She then realized that everything was being pulled from the mind of Lord Sangui.  Realizing this weakness, she quickly pushed her clone back, morphed her sword to rifle form, and fired a few shots in order to slow down the clone and force it to regenerate before re-entering the fight.  She then took aim at the main circle of Order soldiers that were guarding Lord Sangui.  She fired once and killed an Order soldier, giving her a split second to fire again and hit her target in the center.  She fired her shot, and it was placed perfectly on Lord Sangui’s temple.  While his aura did absorb the damage of the attack, it was enough to cause all the clones, both of Lord Sangui and otherwise to dissipate and flow back into him.  Jacob and everybody else saw this, and trained their weapons on Lord Sangui and his circle of troops just in case he tried a stunt like that again.  Realizing they had figured out how to counter his primary attack, Lord Sangui picked up a rifle from one of his dead soldiers and shouted,  
            “Focus fire on the fuel pods!” As he shouted, he and his troops tried to hit the weak points of the Atlesian mechs, but in that moment, Jacob activated his time dilation and leapt up into the air.  The bullets to him were moving so slowly that he could simply take his sword and slice all the enemy fire like it was nothing.  After doing so, he positioned himself to land right in front of Pyrrha, who was ready and waiting having her shield hovering out in front of her due to her own Semblance.  Jacob then landed perfectly on the shield and Pyrrha sent both of them flying towards the enemy.  As soon as he was in range, Jacob leapt up and started cutting down the surprised Order soldiers.  They all tried to defend themselves and take Jacob down, but the moment they turned their weapons on him, Pyrrha and all the other forces in the warehouse charged forward, leaving the Order stuck for options.  Lord Sangui grabbed his communicator and yelled,  
            “We need immediate evac!  Give us some cover fire!”  As soon as he got his message out, he and the soldiers who weren’t being destroyed by Jacob and Pyrrha ran over to the ascension cables and started ascending.  Jacob reacted quickly and threw several kunai at the cables, cutting most of them, while others were enough to cause the enemy soldiers to panic and fall to the ground.  Lord Sangui, clearly panicked, held out his hand and several more clone-like creatures started flowing out of his hand.  This didn’t phase Jacob whatsoever, as he simply cut right through all the clones and tried to get closer and closer to Lord Sangui.  But then something happened that caught him off guard.  Something that nobody could have predicted.  Forming before him now was not a clone of another faceless Order soldier, but the face of Nathan Grover.  The clone looked exactly like Nathan, even down to the most minuet details.  Jacob froze, not sure how to respond.  Pyrrha initially wondered why Jacob froze, but when she saw the clone, she froze as well.  The clone raised its weapons to attack, but luckily, one of the Atlesian knights shot the clone, snapping Jacob and Pyrrha out of their trance.  They returned to their efforts of trying to keep the enemy from escaping, but while they did take down a few more soldiers, Lord Sangui still managed to make his escape.  As the Order’s airship swung around to pick them up, Jacob pulled out his Scroll.  
            “Professor Ozpin, we’ve successfully countered their attack on the main warehouse.  Some of them got away however and seem to be returning to the main fight.  How should we proceed?”  
            “Hold your positions” Ozpin said.  “Things are starting to fall into place.”

 

 

 

Lord Imperia readied herself as the primary airship descended into the corridor that they had cleared a path for.  She didn’t know who or what was waiting for her and her forces on the other side of the door.  So when the doors did open, she felt a bit disappointed that there were only four fighters standing in the hallway.  Granted she recognized all four of them as heroes of the Battle of Vytal, but was still surprised and disappointed that there were only four.  
            “Is this all that Atlas has to offer against me?” Lord Imperia said mockingly.  
            “Well your last boss underestimated us” Ruby said as she readied her scythe, “And look where that got him.”  
            “This ends now” Miles said as he twirled his weapons into battle position.  
            “Ugh, I was in the middle of roasting these idiots?” Ruby groaned at Miles as she rolled her eyes.  
            “You do you Ruby, but I’ve got a score to settle with these jerks” with that said, Miles rushed forward and started cutting through several Order soldiers.  Ty and Ruby followed suit with Evan staying back to provide cover fire from his rifle.  Lord Imperia fired a few rounds of Dust from her staff and tried to keep the four of them at a distance.  But it became clear that this was going to be a close quarters battle.  She changed the primary dust cartridge in her staff from fire to electric, and rushed straight towards Ty.  Ty was quick to react to the incoming attack, and blocked it with relative ease.  However, he almost got knocked back straight away as Lord Imperia had charged the blade with electric energy.  While his Semblance absorbed most of the hit, the sheer force and power of the electricity sent Ty flying in an instant.  He quickly gained his bearings, and got ready to try again.  
            “Seriously, why couldn’t Nora have been here for this one?” Ty said rushing right back at Lord Imperia.  “This kind of stupid attack was made for her!”  
            “Fight now, focus on our absent friends later please!” Miles said as he continued to make easy work of the Order soldiers.  Miles then noticed that Lord Imperia was fully preparing to defend and repel Ty’s attack again, but this left her wide open.  Miles quickly adjusted his gravity so that it was almost like he was falling towards Lord Imperia.  As he got closer, Lord Imperia noticed him flying straight towards her and turned to parry his attack.  In that moment, Lord Imperia realized exactly what Miles was doing.  He was drawing her attention towards him, lowering her defenses from the imminent attack that was coming from Ty.  The strike that Ty landed on Lord Imperia was so powerful that she was sent flying straight back into the airship, knocking over several rows of Order soldiers in the process.  She was slow to get up, but clearly ready for another fight.  Just then, she saw something that caused her face to go white.  Several blue rings were appearing out of thin air.  Small portals that allowed for everybody that was present in Atlas to suddenly be right in the same corridor as the four that stood against the Order’s attack.  Lord Imperia got up slowly, trying to gather her bearings.  In that moment, another portal opened and Professor Ozpin, General Ironwood and Weiss all stepped through, with Ozpin carrying the Relic of Connection, a staff wrapped in two different vines.  One white vine and one black vine.  
            “Played right into our hands” Ozpin said with a smile.  Lord Imperia quickly got her bearings, and ran deeper into the main airship.  
            “All forces, retreat!” she yelled as an alarm started going off inside the main airship.  As soon as the alarms started sounding, everybody ran into the main airship and started taking down whoever they could find.  Ruby tried to use her speed, but the battle had been too much for her, and she barely had any aura left for herself in order to stay alive.  Ozpin smiled and watched as the Order’s smaller ships started to turn and flee away from Atlas, with several escape pods flying out from within the primary airship and joining up with the other fleeing ships in the sky.  The alarms continued to blare, and the computer also started showing a countdown for a self-destruct sequence.  But before the sequence could reach its conclusion, Ozpin opened another portal with Ironwood right behind him.  This portal lead them to the primary reactor core of the airship, where Ironwood found the nearest data port and plugged in a drive that started pumping information into the computer.  Within seconds, the alarms stopped blaring and the self-destruct sequence was aborted.  Ozpin smiled and made his way up to the command deck of the airship, where several Atlas techs were already scouring through the computers for data.  
            “A great strategy indeed general” Ozpin said looking out the window.  “Use the information of the relic as bait to weed out the moles in our organization, and draw in the leaders of the Order itself in order to turn the tide back in our favor.  Now the Order is crippled, their data is ours for the taking, and so long as Ms. Curtiss and her team do their jobs, they will be on the run, trying to piece together what little they have left.”  
            “My only regret is that the chain of command was not apprehended” Ironwood said with clear disappointment in his voice.  “If we had taken them out, we could have ended the war here today.”

             “Perhaps my friend.  But destiny is never left to chance.  We have done our part, now we must hope that our friends can do theirs as well.”  
  


 

 

As the ships flew through the air, Lord Imperia continued to yell into the long-range communicator,  
            “Lord Tenebirs, can you hear me?  Lord Tenbebris?!”  There was still no answer, not even the normal chatter that came out of the base normally.  “Maximum speed to headquarters” Imperia said as she sat down next to the pilot.  “I fear that our attack wasn’t the main focus of Ozpin and his forces.”


	19. Episode 1: Chapter 12: Mission Complete

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 12 of Episode 1 of War of Seasons.

Christy parried another energy strike from Lord Tenebris’ tuning fork sword, while Ember continued to fire several rounds at him trying to knock him off balance.  
            “Your attacks won’t work on me” Lord Tenebris said with a laugh.  “I have been trained…..”  
            “Training only works if you use it correctly” Ember said as she rushed forward and engaged in close combat with Lord Tenebris.  “Something that the man you killed taught me a long time ago.”  
            “That means nothing child” Lord Tenebris said as he stabbed his sword into the ground to create a sound blast that knocked her further backwards.  “Whether one uses training correctly or not is inadequate.  What matters is what you have been trained in, what you are skilled at, and how it compares to your opponents abilities.”  
            “I’m not sure if you’ve ever been in a fight like this before,” Christy said as she joined Ember in the close quarters combat, “but there usually isn’t this much talking.”  
            “Regardless of who says what, all that matters is who is still standing at the end of the day.”  
            “Really?” Ember said with a smile as she landed a perfect shotgun punch on Lord Tenebris’ stomach.  “Hard for you to still be standing if you’re all by yourself.”  
            “I am….more than enough…..for the likes of you” Lord Tenebris said as he regained his breath after the last hit.  He spun his weapon into battle position and rushed forward.  Immediately, Christy ran forward and set herself right in the path of Lord Tenebris.  Initially, he thought she had left herself completely open to an attack.  As a result, he began raising his sword for an attack head on.  Suddenly, Christy leapt forward and did a front flip, propelling herself up into the air with the force of her weapons firing as they reached the ground.  Christy flew over Lord Tenebris.  Trying to react to the moment, he aimed his sword at the rising Christy, but with that opening, Ember fired several more shots towards him, resulting in Lord Tenebris  having to use his sword to try and defend himself from the incoming attacks.  This left him wide open for when Christy landed perfectly right behind him and struck a perfect blow on his back.  While his aura took most of the damage, it was clear that Lord Tenebris was not prepared at all for this fight.  
            “Not so much fun when you’re the one who’s getting surprise attacked, huh?” Ember said as she confidently pointed one of her tonfas at Lord Tenebris.  There was a short silence following this.  Nobody said or did anything for a few seconds, which gave Christy the chance to pull back and attack Lord Tenebris once again.  But suddenly, she was knocked back by a powerful surge of energy.  Ember saw what happened in that moment and tried to react, but she wasn’t fast enough.  The energy hit her and sent her flying into the nearby wall.  She felt her aura slipping down to dangerous levels as she fought to get back up and keep going.  Lord Tenebris was approaching her, now coated in a black flame.  A pure black aura burn.  Ember didn’t know what to do.  She was used to her father’s aura burns being something that was more of an aesthetic to exemplify the power or ability being amplified when facing off against opponents, not something that could really give off powerful energy waves like they did here.  Ember didn’t have much time to think however, as all of a sudden, Lord Tenebris had her in a choke hold.  He held her up in front of himself, Ember struggling to break free of the iron grip that Lord Tenebris had around her neck.  
            “Of all the names he could have chosen,” Lord Tenebris as he took his free hand and started reaching for Ember’s necklace, “why did yours become associated with that of the true Ember?”  
            “What are you….?”  Before Ember could comprehend what was happening, Lord Tenebris ripped the necklace her father had given to her off her neck.  
            “This was supposed to be a gift from the true Ember.  You are not worthy to even speak her name, let alone share it!”  In that moment, Ember snapped.  She activated her phasing Semblacne, pulled back her right arm, and smashed Lord Tenebris through a wall.  Not simply though a wall near them, but across the entire room and caused him to crash through into the room over.  Needless to say, this surprised Lord Tenebris immensely.  He ran his hand over his mask, and felt a crack had started to develop over his right eye.  Ember was not about to let up however.  She marched towards Lord Tenebris, and before he had a chance to react, started beating him senseless.  There were chinks of armor flying all over the place, pieces of his mask started to crack, and it almost seemed like this would be the moment.  However, before Ember could strike a blow that would have surely defated Lord Tenebris, he fired up another aura burn, this time burning white.  Unlike the black burn, this one was a purely defensive burn that made Lord Tenebris impervious to Ember’s attacks.  But that didn’t stop her form continually trying to break through the defense.  
            “Give it back!” Ember yelled as she continued to punch the flame.  “It doesn’t blong to you!  You have no right!”  In that moment, Christy ran over and grabbed Ember, pulling her away from Lord Tenebris.  
            “You aren’t going to break through his defenses!” she yelled trying to pull her back.  “Ozpin just called!  We need to leave right now!”

            “No!  I’m not leaving!  Not until he pays for what he did to me!  To my brother!  To my mom!  To my family!”  
            “Then leave him here to die!  Let him just die a death not worth mentioning!  That will be better for Nathan!”  Ember tried to break free from Christy’s grip, but to no avail.  Finally, she calmed down and let Christy release her.  They turned to leave, but not before Ember spat at the flame consuming Lord Tenebris.  
            “You’d better hope that flame can protect you from what’s about to happen” Ember said turning away to leave the chamber.  “Because if you do survive, you’ll wish you had died right here instead of facing my wrath.”  With that, Ember and Christy exited the chamber, the relic of knowledge in hand.  Lord Tenebris tried to get back up, but was struggling to do so.  He grabbed his communicator, but found it had been destroyed in the battle.  Suddenly, the entire labyrinth started shaking.  The ground began to crack, the ceiling began to crumble, and the pillars started to collapse.  The entire base was falling apart.  But Lord Tenebris didn’t make a single sound or cry for help.  He simply laid there, and let his body be covered in the white aura burn as the rubble collapsed around him.

 

 

 

            As the Great Labyrinth came crashing down, the stealth team watched as several Order ships scrambled to try and escape the carnage.  Any Order soldiers or vehicles that ran or drove past them didn’t even think twice, they simply continued to run for their lives.  
            “Somehow,” Brooklyn said tilting her head, “I thought this would be a lot harder.”  
            “Yeah one would think that the Order would be a lot better at protecting their hidden base from people randomly attacking it” Terra said scratching her head.  
            “We only knew this place existed thanks to Ozpin” Christy said as she pulled out her Scroll and started typing in Ozpin’s contact information.  “And they weren’t expecting us anytime soon during this war.  So, this was the perfect time to attack.”  As she said this, Christy called Ozpin who picked up almost right away.  
            “Thank goodness you’re okay” Ozpin said with a sigh.  “Do you have the Relic?”  
            “Safe and secure” Christy said as she held it up triumphantly.  
            “Excellent work.  Stand by, we’re ready to bring you home.”  
            “But there isn’t an airship nearby….” Before Christy could finish her sentence, a booming sound echoed across the desert, and a portal opened leading straight to General Ironwood’s office back in Atlas.  Ozpin stood on the other side of the portal holding the Relic of Connection, having opened a gate to allow the stealth team to exit safely.  They all made their way through the portal and into Ironwoods office.  Once they were all through, Ozpin closed the gate and set the Relic down on Ironwood’s desk.  
            “I’m sure the others are going to have several questions” Ozpin said taking a sip from his coffee.  
            “Could I get a coat first?” Aurora said as she started shivering.  “We went from the literal desert to the artic in a matter of seconds.”

 

 

 

            “How could you go behind our backs like this Ozpin?” Miles said as he slammed his fist on a nearby table.  
            “I did what was necessary to ensure our victory in this conflict” Ozpin said tapping his cane on the ground.  “The current generation of students at Beacon and the other….”  
            “I don’t care how good they are Ozpin!  They’re still kids!  Just because they know how to fight doesn’t mean that they should fight!  They need to be kept safe and out of harms way!”  
            “Perhaps, but without the efforts of your children, we might not have gotten the result that we were hoping for in this venture.”  
            “I thought we agreed,” Yang said as she stormed over to Ozpin, “no students or underage fighters in this conflict unless absolutely necessary.”  
            “And I did deem this absolutely necessary Yang.  If not for this attack, we could have lost all the Relics to the Order already.  You should be celebrating.  We have achieved a great victory over the Order today!”  
            “But at what cost?” Natalie said stepping up next to Ozpin.  “What if today had gone differently?  What if instead of everybody getting out in one piece, some of if not all of the students helping with this little incursion of yours Ozpin ended up injured or dead because of your actions?!”  
            “You know as well as I do Mrs. Grover that is the nature of the game.”  
            “Yes, that is the game WE play” Ruby said walking forward as well.  “They’re still kids.  Let them be kids for the time being.  I’d prefer they be safe and out of harms way than fighting in this war, no matter how much it helps us win.”  The room fell silent and nobody said anything.  
            “So am I going to have to be the one to say something?” Aurora said with clear annoyance in her voice.  “What about us?  Do we get a say in any of this?”  
            “Maybe once you become official huntsmen and huntresses…..” Miles started to say to the students, but then Hera walked over and scowled at Miles.  
            “Like it or not, we are in the thick of war right now.  And in order to survive, we need to have all hands on deck in order to fight the growing darkness.  We can’t just sit around and expect everything to be better by letting people sit on the sidelines instead of helping.”  
            “Maybe,” Ty said folding his arms, “but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re just kids.  You need more experience before you guys can take on a threat as powerful as the Order.”  
            “Tell me again how much experience you guys had when the Order attacked Beacon?” Gray said with sarcasm in his voice.  
            “Even though we won today, this won’t mean anything unless we come together and fight the common enemy as one” Ozpin said taking another sip of coffee.  “We can’t do this alone.  Besides, it was the strength of simple souls like yourselves that helped defeat the Order last time, so perhaps we should look to the youth once again in this conflict.”  The room fell silent once again, nobody sure how to respond.  Blake then spoke up and said,  
            “We will not tolerate this unless at the very least, the students are accompanied by at least two huntsmen or huntresses.”  
            “That can be arranged.  Perhaps cover their internship credit.”  
            “This is serious Oz” Ironwood said with a sigh.  
            “True, but regardless.  The Order isn’t going to stay down for long.  For all we know, they could already have the pieces of the puzzle needed in order to find the last two Relics.  And even though we have the other two in our possession is beyond helpful, we need to ensure that they Order not only never gets their hands on the two we already have, but the two that are still out there.  And I’m not sure how much the Relic of Knowledge managed to keep secret from the Order, but we might have a chance if we keep moving forward.  But for now, we need rest.  This is our first true respite in quite some time.  Everybody take a breath and prepare for a new strategy tomorrow as we prepare for what is the most likely move of the Order after losing their main hub.”

 

 

 

            Ember sat down on the observation deck of the main building of Atlas overlooking the sprawling landscape of the kingdom, watching the snow fall slowly over the town below.  Gray sat down next to her, placing his hand on her knee.  
            “You doing okay sis?” he asked with legitimate concern in his voice.  
            “I had him Gray.  I had the monster that took our dad in a single instant, and I let him go.”  
            “There’s no guaranteeing he survived.  Maybe he died in the explosion you pulled off with the rest of your team.”  
            “But what if we didn’t?  He was impervious to my attacks when he had that all-white aura burn….”  
            “Did you say Aura burn?” Miles said as he cut in on the conversation.  “Who was using an Aura burn?”  
            “That Tenebris guy who killed our dad” Gray said taking a sip of water.  “Ember says that it was black when exerting power, and white when in defensive form.”  
            “Is that even possible?  Not many people have anything like an Aura burn?”

            “Well my mom and my dad both had variations,” Ember said crossing her legs.  “It could be possible that this is just another version of that ability.”  
            “Perhaps.  Something seems off though” Miles said as he cracked his knuckles.  
            “What seems off?” Gray asked.  
            “Most Semblance’s are rare and specific to the wielder.  Very few people can attain a power that is so similar to other Hunters Semblances.  And those that do are few and far between.  The only people I knew who had aura burns were your mother and your father.”  
            “Doesn’t Brooklyn also have a sort of Aura burn?” Ember said.  
            “Kind of” Miles said with a sigh.  “But each of them are distinct.  Not one of them bears resemblance to the other.”  
            “Well, this one did look similar, but different enough.   I don’t think that this Lord Tenebris and my dad are connected in any way outside of the obvious.”  
            “Maybe.  I just need some sleep.”  Miles left, leaving Ember and Gray alone again.  
            “What happened to your neck?” Gray asked noticing the red marks on Ember’s neck.  
            “Oh, right.  That Tenebris guy strangled me.  But what’s worse, he took dad’s necklace away from me.”  
            “Did he really?”  
            “I’m not even really sure why he wanted it.  He just saw it and decided he wanted it so he took it form me.  I tried to get it back, but there was no way I was getting through that defense.”  As she looked up to the starry sky, Ember started to cry.  “That was the last piece of his legacy that he had left for me.  Now he’s gone.  I know I need to forge my own path, but that necklace always reminded me that no matter what, there’s always a light in the darkness.”  Gray sighed and placed his hand on Ember’s shoulder.  
            “Yeah, I miss him too.”  Ember smiled and embraced her brother, both of them letting their tears fall.  
            “I call dibs on beating him to a bloody pulp once we finally find him” Ember said with a snicker.  
            “That’s assuming that there will be anything left of him once mom is through with him” Gray said as they both laughed and cried.

 

 

 

            Lord Imperia’s airship touched down next to the wreckage.  She scanned over all the different pieces of debris, trying to see if she could find what she was looking for.  But then, a burst of black energy shot up from the sky, and Lord Tenebris stepped out of the rubble, his mask extremely cracked.  
            “It’s a miracle you survived Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said with a smirk.

“It truly is a miracle.” Lord Tenebris said with a sick smile.

“What of the monolith?”

“Said to say my lord, it was destroyed by the enemy.  I apologize, I should have done more.”

“They played all of us Lord Tenebris.  You at least delayed the inevitable which gave our troops plenty of time to evacuate and salvage as much as they could.  What of the data we collected from the monolith about the Relics?”

“They were on the first evacuated ship I sent out.  They will rejoin the main fleet once I send them the proper signals.”

“Very good Lord Tenebris.  Who may I ask did you face that resulted in your defeat?”

“It was the professor of stealth tactics at Beacon Academy along with the one who is unfit to bear her name.  I did everything I could, but I could not defeat them.”

“Perhaps you are not as powerful as you have boasted in the past Lord Tenebris” as Lord Imperia said this, Lord Tenebris clenched his fists in anger.  He then grabbed Lord Imperia by the collar, and pulled her right up to his mask.

“I have so much to do before I leave this world.  I will fight an army of inferior soldiers and pathetic huntsmen and huntresses just to get her back.  I will not give up until I have achieved my goals.  And of course, we have yet to let this world fall under the control of the entire Order.”  
            “Glad to see we are on the same page” Lord Imperia said with a sick smile as she removed Lord Tenebris’ hand from her collar.  “You have said exactly what I wanted to hear.  You may retire to your chambers Lord Tenebris.”  With that, Lord Tenebris turned and started making his way to his chambers on the main airship of the Order.  Lord Sangui walked over to Lord Imperia, completely confused.  
            “He’s the reason we’re in this mess!” Lord Sangui said with anger in his voice.  “If we keep the likes of him here he’ll…..”  
            “Do nothing more than fight and die for our cause.  I will admit, at first I was concerned with bringing him on board given his history, but the fact that he is willing to serve us regardless, perhaps he is truly the warrior we have been waiting for.  After all, I did help him discover his true desires, and unlike many others, he’s acting on them.  His blind loyalty to us serves us perfectly.  This is ideal for the Order’s ultimate goal” Lord Imperia said with an evil laugh.

 

Lord Tenebris made his way down the hallway, his fist clenched.  Entering his room, he took off his mask and placed it on the bed.  Walking over to the mirror, he pulled out Embers necklace.  As the necklace spun in his hand, he said with a sick smile,  
            “Finally, back where it belongs.”   With that, he took the necklace and tied it around his neck, which fitted perfectly when he finished tying it.  He continued to fiddle with the pendant to make it fit perfectly.  And once it did, Nathan’s smile grew even larger.


	20. Episode 2: Chapter 1: Next Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons.

**2 Weeks After the Battle of Atlas**

**Beacon Academy**

            Ozpin took a sip of his morning coffee, having just woken up a few minutes ago.  Despite his protests, everybody finally convinced him to get some sleep and rest up.  Following the battle at Atlas and the attack on the Great Labyrinth, the Order had gone quiet.  No attacks, no real movement, not even a hint of activity on their end.  Ironwood thought it was a trap, a tactic by the enemy to lull them into a false sense of security to leave themselves wide open for a counter attack.  However, Pyrrha finally convinced him and Ozpin to both take a break.  During this time, the other major players in the world council decided that with the Order having been crippled and in hiding, they should attempt to retake the Kingdom of Mistral.  The Order had no military presence in the city, and the only reason they didn’t take it back sooner was due to the fact that there was enough Grimm that it was deemed not worth it to send in the number of troops needed to retake the city with the Order still being the main threat.  However, now that the Order was temporarily not the primary concern, Mistral was put up as the first order of business to take care of.  Ozpin pulled up his communications system and pulled up his contacts.

 

 

**The Kingdom of Mistral**

 

            Pyrrha watched on as several hordes of Grimm were forced back by Yang’s powerful punches.  Most of the city was overrun with Grimm, but without anybody controlling or commanding them, it was an easy task to remove them like they were exterminating pests.  
            “Man, remember when these things used to be the biggest thing we had to worry about?” Yang said with a chuckle as she reloaded her weapons.  
            “That was such a long time ago” Pyrrha said with a sigh.  “We were still kids the last time the Grimm were more than just another animal we had to fight.”  
            “A lot’s changed since then” Miles said as he walked towards them moving debris out of the street with his Semblance.  “Nobody could have predicted this.”  
            “Honestly,” Brooklyn said as she walked over with some water bottles for everyone, “If you told me that the main thing we were going to have to worry about in our adult lives were some crazy old guys we fought during our freshman year I would have said you were crazy.”  
            “In fairness,” Christy said walking over with Ty and Evan, each of them carrying supplies, “just about any future that could have happened to us would seem outlandish and different from what we expected when we were kids.”  
            “No kidding” Natalie said as she joined everybody else.  “I was the shyest girl on the face of the planet back in school, and now I’m the most recognizable woman on the face of Remnant.  All because I just happened to kill the right dude at the exact right time.”  Everybody laughed at Natalie’s comment.  They continued to talk, going over all the different pieces of their past, leading them to where they are now.  
            “We shouldn’t have fallen out of touch the way we did” Jacob said with a sigh.  “I know most of us stayed in contact because Ozpin trusts us with stuff related to the world council, but we should have found more times to just get together.  A class reunion or something like that, you know?”  
            “I get that” Evan said as he took a sip of water.  “I just wish we could all be together.  I just wish that…..” everybody fell silent.  Nobody knew what to say.  
            “I should have gone with him” Miles said lowering his head.  “If I had just joined him on his crusade than maybe….”  
            “Don’t beat yourself up over this” Pyrrha said placing her hand on Miles’ shoulder.  “If anything, I should have done more as the Headmistress of Haven to try and figure out what the Order was actually doing….”  
            “But if I hadn’t failed him during that last mission,” Natalie said placing her hand on her heart, “then he wouldn’t have been captured and then….” Just before everybody started talking about how they could have changed something, a shot rang out through the air as Yang fired one of her gauntlets to get everybody to quiet down.  
            “I miss Nathan probably more than just about any of you could ever imagine.  But that doesn’t matter.  Yes, we all have things we think we could have done.  But at the same time, we can’t ignore everything that lead him to that point.  His heart was in the right place, but he went about it the wrong way.  And in the end, he ended up on the short end of the stick for the last time.  We can’t ignore what he did, but we can move forward, and try to do what he could not do.  Destroy this thorn in our sides for far to long once and for all.  And we’ll do it the right way.  Together.  Without hurting anyone.”  Yang then extended her arm, inviting her friends to place their hands on hers.  Everybody smiled, and joined in the circle.  
            “For Nathan.  The Nathan we remember, our brother and friend.” Yang said with a smile.  
            “For Nathan” everyone said in unison.  They then all smiled and returned to the city, making sure that it was ready for civilians to re-enter without fear of attack.  Pyrrha was walking up towards the school when her Scroll started ringing.  She pulled it up and saw it was Ozpin calling, so she answered.  
            “How is everything Mrs. Nikos?” Ozpin asked with a smile on his face.  
            “We seem to be doing all right” Pyrrha said with a smile.  The Grimm are nothing more than a nuisance now, we even managed to have a full conversation dripping with negative emotions without a single Grimm bothering us.”  Ozpin laughed at this, as he took another sip of his coffee.  
            “Let me know as soon as you are finished there.  I may have some key information that will help us stay one step ahead of the Order.”  
            “Will do.  See you soon.”  Pyrrha hung up and returned to helping clean up the city.

 

 

 

**The Lead Airship of the Order of the Four Seasons**

Lord Imperia was pacing back and forth in the command center, while Lord Tenebris was standing by the window, not even acknowledging the fact that Lord Sangui was standing right behind him, trying to get his attention.  
            “Lord Tenebris,” Sangui said with an annoyed voice, “I am sick and tired of you just simply standing around doing nothing!  If we are ever to regain control of this war, we need to take the necessary steps to ensure we are prepared for the next encounter!”  
            “If Ozpin and his flunkies haven’t moved against us these past few weeks,” Lord Tenebris said not moving a single inch from his spot, “then we are off their radar for the moment.  We can move and prepare in peace.  I’m surprised honestly, I figured you of all people would be grateful we have this brief respite to rebuild and prepare for the next move.”  
            “We wouldn’t even be in this situation if you had just done your job back at the base!  You let a team of amateurs and students break into the most sacred place for the Order and let them destroy it without a second thought!”  
            “Even if I did manage to defeat the professor and the pretender, they still had pieces throughout the base that resulted in its ultimate destruction.”  
            “If you knew they were there, why didn’t you do anything about it?!”  
            “Soldiers were dispatched to deal with them.  But correct me if I’m wrong Lord Sangui, the key to stealth is to not be seen, correct?”  
            “Stop stepping around the issue!” As Lord Sangui shouted this, he pulled his arm back, and fired a punch.  However, Lord Tenebris anticipated this and dodged rather easily, causing Lord Sangui’s fist to hit and crack the glass.  
            “I am not stepping around anything but your unprovoked attacks against me Lord Sangui.  I am simply relaying what happened during that encounter.  They had the element of surprise, they overwhelmed me, and they took a small victory.  I did everything that I could within that moment.  You just can’t accept the fact that they played us.”  This angered Lord Sangui even further.  So much so, that a clone of him formed, this one a pure deep red color.  It stomped over and grabbed Lord Tenebris by the collar.  
            “This isn’t about losing a single battle you simpleton!  This is about the fact that you lost our advantage in this war because you couldn’t take that step and finally destroy that stupid daughter of yours!”  In that instant, Lord Tenebris was engulfed in a black aura burn, causing the clone to disintegrate within a second.  He then started taking a few steps forward towars Lord Sangui.  
            “If anything, my drive to kill the pretender is greater than any other motivation that you or anybody else in the Order!”  
            “If that’s the case, then why is she still alive?”  Lord Tenebris reached back to grab his sword, but just as he grabbed the hilt, Lord Imperia slammed her staff on the ground, firing a wave of air that got both of them to stop and take a step backwards.  
            “We each may have our own motivations for joining the Order, but we all are reaching for the same endgame.  We seek the ultimate victory to bring back what we have lost.  But if we fight amongst ourselves, then we lose not just the ones we have lost, but our own lives as well.”  Both Lord Sangui and Lord Tenebris kneeled before Lord Imperia as she said this.  
            “My apologies Lord Imperia” Tenebris said as he took off his mask.  “I meant no disrespect.”  
            “Fret not Lord Tenebris.  These are trying times for all of us, and we have a long way to go before we achieve our final goal.  Take some time for yourself, and re-center yourself to your mission.  Ensure that you are focused on what is truly the best for you regardless of what the prentenders told you before you found me.”  
            “Of course my lord.”  With that, Nathan stood up, grabbed his mask and retired to his chambers.  Lord Sangui rose as well.  
            “How did you do it Lord Imperia?” Lord Sangui said crossing his arms.  
            “What specifically are you referring to in this context?”  
            “You took one of the biggest thorns in our side from the last several years and turned him into one of our greatest assets.  Your Semblance only creates mental suggestions, not full fledged mind control.  And for the most part, he was set on destroying us and everything we hoped to accomplish.  How did you convince him to change sides?”  
            “All in good time Lord Sangui.  The only thing that you need to know is that he is now on our side, and that is a wild card we can play to our advantage when the time is right. For now, we must make sure that when Ozpin and the rest of them make a move, we can regain our advantage.  Whenever they act, they usually act together.  And we need to use that to our advantage.”  
            “How do you propose we do that my lord?”  
            “We start, by letting Ozpin lead us directly to the Relic of Death before we pursue the Relic of Life.”

 

 

 

 

**The Kingdom of Mistral**

Sora landed amongst a large pile of rubble as the rest of his team was helping clean up one of the market streets.  
            “I remember when dad would take us down here to get groceries for dinner when we were growing up” Sora said with a smile.  “Honestly, even with this damage, it looks better than it has for a long time.”  His teammates chuckled, and continued to move debris out of the way.  Hera noticed a boulder off to the side and decided to get it herself without bothering the rest of her teammates.  She made her way over, and grabbed the boulder, preparing to pick it up and take it to where the removal team was taking it to be re-purposed.  But in that moment, she felt a chill along her spine, and the wind picked up blowing away from the city.  Hera looked out to where the wind was blowing and saw a small red light in the distance.  It didn’t blink, it didn’t flicker, nor did it seem to move whatsoever.  She took one step forward, but then in that moment, Aurora placed her hand on Hera’s shoulder, snapping her out of her trance.  
            “Hey, you good?” Aurora said as Hera almost stumbled when Aurora put her hand on her shoulder.  
            “Yeah, I’m good” Hera said as she got her bearings back.  
            “Good.  Gray and I are heading towards the next street.  Sora’s gone on to scout ahead.  You with us?”  
            “Yeah, just give me a second to re-orient myself.”  
            “All good.  Just holler if you need us for anything” Aurora said as she made her way to the next street.  Hera looked back out where the red light was glowing earlier, only to see that it was now gone.  Not sure what to make of it, she turned away and made her way to the rest of her teammates.  But before she turned the corner, she looked back one last time, her mind racing.  For whatever reason, that red light seemed like it was calling to her back there.  
            “I really need to talk to somebody about all of this” she said as she quickly ran on to join her teammates.


	21. Episode 2: Chapter 2: Lost Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons

Beanie stepped off the elevator and walked to the main entrance to greet everybody returning from Mistral.  
            “How’d it go?” he asked as everybody made their way inside.  
            “A lot easier than we were expecting” Ruby said with a smile.  “Pyrrha and Jaune stayed behind since it is their home and all, but honestly they could have left things to the general Atlesian troops and androids on site.  The Grimm aren’t that much of a threat.  All that’s left to really do there is just keep cleaning things up and fix all the destroyed parts of the kingdom.”  
            “Which is good because I don’t think the Order is going to be sitting on their hands forever” Jacob said pulling out his Scroll.  He scrolled through his contacts, refreshing to try and see if he had any new messages.  “Last time something like this happened, we were caught flat on our faces.  They were quiet for a few days after declaring war, then all of a sudden they invade Mistral and beat us to a pulp.”  
            “In fairness,” Ty said placing his hand on Jacob’s shoulder, “we paid them back for that in a pretty decisive manner if I do say so myself.”  
            “Doesn’t mean we should let up” Evan said cracking his knuckles.  “If we let them recuperate from this, they might hit us back with something even more devastating than what happened in Mistral.”  
            “That’s part of the reason why Ozpin wants all of you to join him in his office” Beanie said motioning towards the elevator.  “He wants to discuss strategy.”  
            “Sounds good to me” Yang said as she made her way towards the elevators.  Everybody started filing on, but Beanie stopped Team GASH from boarding.  
            “Sorry, this meeting doesn’t include students.”  
            “Hey, we took part in the cleanup of Mistral and the attack on the Order’s base!” Aurora said with an annoyed tone.  
            “Just because you took part in an operation doesn’t entitle you to confidential information hon” Miles said sternly to his daughter.  “Honestly, I still have my reservations about this.  Even with the supervision set in place.”  
            “So I should have just waited for an adult to save grandma and grandpa back in Menagerie?”  
            “That was life or death Aurora.  This is much more complex and intricate than that.”  
            “Miles,” Blake said with a sigh, “you can lecture our daughter later.  You’re holding us up.”  
            “My apologies.”  With that, the elevator doors closed, and left Team GASH standing there awkwardly.  
            “Well,” Sora said putting his hands on his head, “what do we do now?”  
            “I’m going to go practice” Aurora said as she turned towards the exit.  “We barely saw any Grimm in Mistral compared to the others, and I need to blow off some steam.”  
            “Mind if I join you?” Sora said as he quickly ran to catch up with Aurora.  
            “The more the merrier I say.”  
            “We should all train together” Gray said as he ran to catch up with everybody else.  “Give us a chance to work on our team moves.”  
            “I’ll catch up” Hera said as she continued to stare at the closed elevator doors.  As her teammates left for the training grounds, she stood there still, not sure what she should do.  She reached her hand out to call for the elevator, but pulled it back before pressing the button.  
            “What am I doing?” Hera asked herself as she grabbed her right arm in fear.  “It’s just some stupid nightmares.  Nothing to bother everybody else about.  They have bigger things to worry about.”  She quickly turned around and ran out the door to rejoin her teammates.  As she ran towards the door, she couldn’t help but feel like there was something tugging on her shoulder, beckoning her back to the elevator.  But she ignored this and continued to run constantly telling herself,  
            “They’re just nightmares.  They’re just nightmares.  They’re just nightmares.”

 

 

 

The elevator doors opened and everybody flooded into Ozpin’s office.  He stood up with a smile once he saw everybody enter.  
            “I heard that things have been going well for us in the Kingdom of Mistral.  That is truly wonderful.  Something we needed immensely following everything that has happened these past few weeks.”  
            “Yes it’s good and all,” Natalie said placing her hands behind her head, “but unless we take down the Order for good, we may as well have just wasted our time trying to fix something they will break all over again if they get the chance.”  
            “Which is exactly why I called you all in here on such short notice.”  As Ozpin said this, he pulled up four images for everybody to see.  “During this brief respite, I have been going through each and every last potential piece of evidence that could clue us into what the Order may want with these Relics.”  
            “Well given how powerful each of them are on their own,” Christy said as she walked over to the image of the Relic of Connection, “and since they are one of the few people who actually knows that they exist, it would make sense for them to try and control them all if it meant they could rule this world with an iron fist.”  
            “That is indeed a leading possibility Ms. Curtiss, but there is another angle to consider.”  
            “Honestly Ozpin,” Brooklyn said as she rolled her eyes, “I’m getting a little tired of you just randomly remembering these vital pieces of information that are crucial to our worlds very foundation.”  
            “Completely understandable Ms. McPhearson.  However, I never thought that these elements would ever come into play given the fact that they have been so well hidden over the last few centuries.  
            “Not all that well hidden if they either know where to look or you leave it out in the open for them to attempt to steal in broad daylight” Blake said as she looked over the different Relics.  
            “Regardless,” Ozpin said starting to sound annoyed with the constant interjections, “I did manage to pull out some old tomes that were given to my father when time began.  A sort of guide if you will to how the Relics work individually, and also how they can work together to create truly awesome spectacles the likes of which we may never see in our lifetime.”  
            “You just had these sitting around this whole time and didn’t even bother to check them regularly to make sure that you didn’t forget anything crucial or important since your father moved on?” Miles said as he flipped a few pages of the giant book.  
            “You must understand, this book is millennia old.  And despite it being a gift from the gods themselves, for whatever reason, these records were kept on parchments and papers of man, the type that can corrode and end up lost to time.  There are quite a few pages missing from this particular book, and the pages that are still intact have faded lettering and words and phrases that may not apply to our modern form of communication.”  
            “So how is this supposed to help us again?”

            “By giving us some key information about how some of the other Relics work.  While the Relics of Connection and Knowledge are good on their own for basic simple uses, there are passages that reference the different ways that the Relics can come together to create different powerful combinations.  For example, the Relic of Knowledge combined with the Relic of Life can give you information on all living things in the world, and even tell you about the parts of life that may be in danger of going extinct or have already gone extinct.  Or there’s a passage that talks about how if you combine the Relic of Connection with the Relic of Life, you can open a doorway to any living thing anywhere in the universe.  Not just on Remnant, but the entire universe.”  
            “So what does that have to do with the Order?” Jacob asked as he looked over the text as well.  
            “Like I said, a lot of sections of this book seem to be missing.  And given the fact that the Order was created by myself to try and better understand our world, it’s entirely possible that some of those old passages were kept by them and hidden away for their own agendas.  If the Relics can do things of this nature with just Knowledge and Connection, we can only imagine what terrors might unfold if the Relic of Death is brought into the picture.”  The room fell silent, Ozpin pulled up the image of the Relic of Death and a few passages.  “Most of the passages only talk about the Relic of Death in a capacity to reverse death, but I have no doubt that there are several more passages that reveal ways that a user can abuse that power and completely devastate all of Remnant with its power.  That’s why I feel we need to ensure we take the necessary steps in order to make sure that the Order never gets their hands on the Relic of Death.”  
            “And how do you propose we do that?” Bovia asked as she put down a section of text she was reading.  
            “We form an expedition to the Dark Realm and take the Relic of Death for ourselves and make sure that the Order never gets a chance to use it.”  Everybody had confused looks on their faces when Ozpin said this.  
            “Real quick professor,” Ruby said as she walked up to him, “but couldn’t doing something like this give the Order exactly what they want?  They might not even know that the Relic of Death is hidden in the Dark Realm.  They might think that it’s hidden somewhere here in Remnant.  And by bringing it back to our world, then all they have to do is take us out and we’ve delivered the key to their victory on a silver platter.”  
            “True, it may seem safer to leave the relic in the Dark Realm, but I fear that the Order may already know to look there.  They had their hands on the Relic of Knowledge for quite some time, and I fear that even if they didn’t get all the answers they were looking for or if they lost the key when we destroyed their base, they may have found out enough that they may make a move to dive into the Dark Realm and retrieve the relic for themselves.  That may be why they have been so quiet during these last two weeks.  We may already be too late.”  
            “Even if we do go into the Dark Realm,” Miles said as he pulled down the image of the Relic of Death, “where would we even begin to look?  We have no map of the Dark Realm, and even if we did, we would have no idea where to begin looking for the relic.  We would quite literally be looking for a needle in a haystack.”  The room fell silent, Ozpin realizing the issues that arose with this proposed expedition sat back down at his desk.  
            “Perhaps if I went along with several airships that were equipped to scan the area for the distinct energy signature of the relic…..”  
            “Aren’t the Grimm even more powerful and numerous in the Dark Realm than they are here?” Ty said scratching his head.  “If we go in with the intention of finding something, we had better know exactly where it is before we go full tilt into this mission.”  
            “Look,” Ember said with a sigh, “we need to take care of the Order, and we need to deal with this relic business.  But right now, we also need to focus on making sure we don’t run ourselves ragged.  Between this war, taking back Mistral, and now this whole Relic thing, we need to catch our breath.  We aren’t going to get anywhere if we keep running full speed towards a wall.  I say we take a day to sleep on this and come back with clearer heads in the morning.”  
            “Agreed” Christy said with a yawn.  “Between trying to keep up with lesson plans and battle strategies, I haven’t had a decent amount of sleep in days.”  
            “All right” Ozpin said as he shut down his desk.  “But I want us all to re-convene here tomorrow afternoon.  We need to find a solution to this.”  Everybody nodded their heads in agreement and headed out the doors.  
            “Christy, Ember, you guys got a moment?” Miles said as he made his way towards the two of them before they got on the elevator.  “Natalie, you too?” Natalie made her way over to the three of them, her head tilted in confusion.  
            “What’s up?”  
            “Could you meet me in the amphitheater before we meet with Ozpin tomorrow?”  
            “What for?” Ember asked scratching her head.  
            “I have some questions I want to ask about this Lord Tenebris guy.  You said you fought him a few weeks ago and we never really followed up on that.  I want to compare notes.  
            “Sounds good” Christy said cracking her back.  “But first, I need to get some rest.”  
            “I’m with you there” Yang said as she stretched her arms.  “Both the rest and the meeting.  I want to go over everything regarding this guy.”  
            “The more the merrier” Miles said as he got on the elevator.  “We need all the information on this guy that we can get.”  
            “I just hope there is something we can find instead of more questions and convoluted twists and turns” Natalie said with a chuckle.”

 

 

            Hera stood up to find herself in a deep red field, the ground a powdered sand with the sky constantly shifting, but always a crimson red.  
            “Not again” Hera said as she sat down.  “Why is it that every time I have this dream, the more and more I seem to be able to control it?”  
            “…..find…..me” Hera stood up with a start at the sound of a strange new voice in the distance.  
            “Hello?  Is someone there?”  
            “….find….me……find…..relic….”  
            “Who are you?  What do you want?”  
            “…..Ozpin……brother…….final gate…..I can….”  
            “Show yourself!”  As Hera yelled this, the dust started to come together to form a person standing before Hera.  Hera was frightened, as a woman clad in black with skin whiter than snow and black scars across her face began to take shape.  
            “Find my brother Ozpin,” the figure said as it walked towards Hera.  “And he can help you understand what is needed to open the final gate and find the lost relic.”  
            “What relic?  What gate?  Who are you?  How do you know Professor Ozpin?”  
            “Talk to him.  Say my name, and all will become clear to him.”  
            “Your name?  I don’t even know your name?  I want to wake up!”  The dream began collapsing, the sands swirling around creating a storm.  The sands created a barrier between Hera and the figure.  No thing could pass through that powerful wall.  Hera started to feel herself waking up.  However, as she began to leave the dream, one final word floated into her ears, that simply said:  
            “….Salem……”


	22. Episode 2: Chapter 3: Memory Fragments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons

**Beacon Tower**

 

 

            Hera was pacing back and forth.  She was still in her pajamas, standing right at the base of Beacon Tower, in the middle of the night, and her mind was racing at a million miles a minute.  She was still reeling from the nightmare that she had just woken up from.  And instead of falling back asleep, she ran out to try and talk to Ozpin.  She had buzzed his office several times, hoping that he would wake up and answer her, but there was still no response.  She honestly started to consider trying to see if she could stretch her way to the top of the tower with her arms, but then the elevator doors opened and out stepped Professor Ozpin.  
            “Who’s there?” he said yawning and adjusting his glasses.  “Office hours aren’t available….Hera?”  Ozpin rubbed his eyes real quick to try and make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.  “What are you doing here child?  You need to get some sleep and….” Hera cut Ozpin off by running up and hugging him.  She was shaking a bit.  Ozpin sensed her fear and returned the hug.  
            “I need to talk to you” Hera said still shaking a little bit.  
            “Come upstairs with me” Ozpin said as he guided her to the elevator.  “We can talk as much as you need.”

 

 

 

            Ozpin poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his chair.  
            “Would you like a cup?” he offered Hera.  
            “No thanks” she said, “I’m not that into coffee.”  
            “What is it with everybody these days preferring tea to coffee?” Ozpin said jokingly taking a sip.  “I swear, your parents have some strange hang-up about this drink.”  He chuckled, but quickly turned his attention back to Hera who was still clearly dealing with the issue she came to him with.  “What’s wrong?”  
            “Well, this might sound strange, but I’ve been having nightmares.”  
            “And you decided that it was best for you to wake the headmaster of the academy as well as the oldest being on this planet because of bad dreams?  Pardon me child, but you seem a bit old to be needing an adult to help you through the night just because of one bad dream.”  
            “Well, it wasn’t just one bad dream.  It’s been several.  For almost a few years now.  I keep having these dreams about so many weird things.  And ever since this whole war with the Order started, they’ve only gotten stronger and stronger.  They really started picking up when we lost Mistral a few weeks ago.”  
            “Well, if I am going to help you, I need you to tell me what these nightmares are about.  Are you in them?  Are you fighting somebody?”  
            “Well, sometimes I’m fighting somebody, but at the same time, I also sometimes have these weird dreams about just mundane daily chores.”  
            “Is it possible that these are just memories of your childhood coming back up in the form of dreams?”  
            “Well, maybe.  I mean, you’re in most of them.”  Ozpin seemed surprised when he heard this.  
            “I know I spent a great deal of time with you and your family while you were growing up child, but why would I be the primary focus of your dreams?”  
            “Well that’s the really strange thing.  We don’t even really do any of the stuff that we did when you came to visit us while me and Arri were growing up.  Instead of the evenings sitting on the beach, I have dreams about walking through a small farm town with you and four random women, one of them who looks a lot like Arri.”  Ozpin slowly started to stand up as Hera continued to explain her dreams.  “And there’s another dream where you and I are sitting at a table playing a game of chess.  I don’t even like chess!  Why is my mind telling me we played chess?”  Ozpin walked over to Hera and placed his hand on her shoulder.  
            “Could you hear anything?  Were there any names spoken during these dreams?”  
            “Well, before tonight, no.  I couldn’t hear a single word.  But tonight, some strange lady was sitting in front of me talking about how I needed to find her brother and that would lead to the lost relic, and all this other stuff that felt like it came straight out of a video game.”  
            “Hera, did she say a name of any kind?”  
            “Well she mentioned your name, but she also said something else at the very end as I was waking up.  I think she said, Salem?”  Ozpin took a few steps back from Hera, his eyes widening in surprise.  
            “Could it be….?” He said as he used his cane to make sure he didn’t lose his balance.  
            “What is it?” Hera asked standing up quickly.  “Did you figure something out?”  
            “Maybe” Ozpin said as he ran back over to his desk.  “Could you please take a seat once again child and not move whatsoever?”  Hera obliged and sat down.  Ozpin searched through his desk and finally found a good piece of chalk.  With it, he started writing several strange symbols on the ground surrounding Hera.  
            “Um….how is this supposed to help with my nightmares?”  
            “This isn’t meant to deal with the nightmares themselves, but rather perhaps to discover the cause of your nightmares.”  
            “And how does arts and crafts on your office floor help find that out?”  
            “Because I believe that you are not alone in your mindscape.  It’s entirely possible that there is another residing in your mind.”  
            “Excuse me, what?”  Before Hera could get an answer to her question however, Ozpin started making several magical symbols by waving his hands in different ways.  Before Hera could even blink, the room seemed to turn white, and then flashed, with everything seeming to change within a single instant.  They were no longer in Ozpin’s office, but in a giant white void, seemingly devoid of anything but Hera and Ozpin.  But as Hera looked around, she saw that they weren’t alone.  Standing there right beside Hera, was the strange woman from her nightmares.  Only this time, she seemed much more full and vibrant than in her dreams.  Hera didn’t know what to say, she just stared at this figure that had been a part of her nightmares for so long.  She looked to Ozpin to see if he knew what to do, but saw that unlike her terror, his face was stricken with surprise.  He was crying a few tears, his hand covering his mouth as he was clearly struggling to stand.  The strange woman smiled and made her way over to Ozpin and embraced him.  He returned the hug and said with a choked up voice,  
            “It’s wonderful to see you again Salem.”  
            “Same to you brother.  It’s been too long.”

 

 

 

**The Order’s Flagship**

Nathan stood in his quarters looking out the window, the airship passing over the open wastelands of Vacuo.  He fiddled with Ember’s necklace, watching as the desert sands kicked up as the engines created large gusts of wind.  He was in a deep trance-like state, not focusing on anything but the necklace when a knock was made on his door.  He put the necklace back inside his shirt, grabbed his mask, and started to put it on as he made his way to the door.  Opening it, a grunt soldier saluted him.  
            “Lord Tenebris, your presence has been requested in the war room.”  
            “I will be there shortly” Lord Tenebris said as he slammed the door in the soldiers face.  With that, he pulled together the rest of his armor and made his way down to the war room.  In the room was Lord Imperia and Sangui, as well as several high-ranking generals and tacticians within the Order, each of them going over a small passage they had managed to keep safe despite the destruction of the base.  
            “What’s the purpose of this meeting Lord Imperia?” Lord Tenebris asked as he joined the circle.  “I was under the impression that our next objective lay with claiming the Relic of Life.  We were able to decipher the location based on the riddle the Relic of Knowledge gave us before we lost it to the pretender.”  
            “We still need another important piece to the puzzle Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said as she enlarged the passage that they were reading over.  “If we are to achieve our goals, the Relic of Life will not be enough.  In order to fully complete our plan, we will need its counterpart, the Relic of Death.”  
            “For what purpose does the Relic of Death serve if our goal is to bring back what was lost with the Relic of Life?”  
            “It is not necessarily for the purpose of bringing back mind you, but rather, it is to serve the purpose of making sure that once we do enact our final plan, we have a clear leverage against the enemy forces to make sure we can accomplish that goal.  We no longer have access to the powers that Lord Mortem stole years ago, and after we captured and killed all of the Maidens for Lord Mortem, the Kingdoms have been far more wary of making sure that the Maidens don’t fall into the wrong hands, living or otherwise.  Alongside that, the enemy already has the Relic of Knowledge which can reveal much about our plan to them if they choose to find out more about us, and the Relic of Connection ensures they can attack us from anywhere and leave us venerable.  So in that regard, we need to find the Relic of Death so that we can regain the advantage over the enemy that we lost after our attack on Atlas.”  
            “The problem is,” Lord Sangui said scratching his head, “is that we don’t know where to find the Relic of Death.  This riddle that the Relic of Knowledge left us is even more cryptic than the one it gave us about the Relic of Life.”  Lord Tenebris pulled the riddle closer to him and read,  
  


_“The Scythe of Death Lies in Wait,  
In the world Consumed by Darkness and Hate.  
The Path to this Staff is Not Hindered by Tricksters,_

_Just Pass Through the Doors Left Behind by the Dark Sister.”_

            “The only thing about that which makes sense is the reference to the Dark Sister, which we know was Salem, the master of the Grimm” Lord Sangui said as he started to pace back and forth.  “But beyond that, it seems like it is trying to keep us from actually finding where in this world it is hiding.”  
            “That’s because you’re looking in the wrong place” Lord Tenebris said as he snapped his fingers.

 

 

 

            Ozpin and Salem continued to hug it out, leaving Hera sitting there completely confused and unsure of what to do next.  
            “I could really use an explanation right about now!” she yelled trying to see if she could catch either of their attention, but to no avail.  Ozpin pulled back out of the hug and had the biggest smile on his face.  
            “How is this even possible?” he said scratching his head.  “You faced the final death in the afterlife.  How are you here?”  
            “The truth is Ozpin, this is the reality of what happens after someone like us passes on from the entirety of existence in this world.  We can’t just fade away and die, the world relies on our general life force to keep balance since Father divided his own existence up between us and the four Maidens.  So instead of being cast into the void for all eternity, I am now instead a part of a child’s mind, sort of a passenger on the journey to see how the world evolves from where it was when I left my physical form behind.”  
            “So it’s a form of reincarnation then?”  
            “Not quite.  Like I said, I’m just a passenger.  I can’t physically control the body that my spirit lives in, just watch as things progress.”  
            “So if you can’t control anything I do,” Hera said having walked over right next to Salem and Ozpin, “how come I keep getting your weird memories?”  
            “Honestly, I am not entirely sure for the most part” Salem said scratching her head.  “However, more recently, I have been hoping to get your attention to talk to Ozpin so that I could try and be of some help.”  
            “Help in what way sister?” Ozpin said as he put his hand to his chin.  “How much about this war are you aware of?”  
            “Like I said, I’ve been a passenger inside this child’s mind, so I know as much as you’ve told her about this whole ordeal.  And once I saw that the Relics were involved, I knew that there was a great chance that somebody would try to claim them for their own ends.  And I know that the Relic of Death is going to be on everybody’s radar soon enough.  So I figured I could give you a hand in ensuring that you will be able to actually find the scythe and ensure that the enemy doesn’t get it.”  
            “But how can you help us sister?  If you can only interact through the dreams of Hera, that makes it extremely difficult for us to get intel about where to go effectively.”  
            “Yeah, I enjoy sleeping,” Hera said with a  yawn, “but I don’t think I can enter a deep sleep that quickly and suddenly in order to get intel.”  
            “Which is why I do have another solution” Salem said with a smile.  
            “And what is that?” Ozpin asked.  
            “You all come to the Realm of Darkness and I can guide you.”

 

 

 

            “We are looking in the wrong place?” Lord Imperia asked with a renewed interest.  “What do you mean by this Lord Tenebris?”  
            “When I was still using my false name with my pretender family, we faced off against Lord Mortem and left him in a catatonic state.  He was brimming with the powers of darkness and Grimm, so Ozpin cast a magic spell in order to seal him in the Realm of Darkness, the same place where Salem spent many centuries trapped by her own brother.”  
            “So you’re saying that the Relic of Death is hidden within the Realm of Darkness?” Lord Sangui said with disbelief.  “How are we even supposed to gain access to such a place?  Much less find our way around in an uncharted land.”  
            “I’m sure that Ozpin and the rest of the fools are preparing to retrieve the relic for themselves.  That seems to be their main objective to this point.  So if we manage to find a way into the Realm of Darkness, we can set up a series of scouts to not only search for the Relic ourselves, but we can also see if we can find Ozpin and his team and have them lead us right to the Relic.  Then on top of that, depending on how prepared or unprepared they are, we can not only gain the Relic for ourselves, but we will also be able to perhaps remove some of their strongest pieces off the board, creating a brand new advantage like the one we had when we defeated them back in Mistral.”  
            “Impressive Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said as she clapped her hands.  “Few people were willing to give you a chance when it came to strategizing for the next phase, but I would argue you have proven your loyalty and strategizing ability to the Order as a whole.”  
            “That still leave the question though,” Lord Sangui said still not convinced, “how exactly do we enter the realm of darkness?”  
            “The answer is also in the riddle” Lord Tenebris said with a smirk.  “All we have to do is find a pool where the Grimm pass through into our world, and we can then pass through that gateway into the Realm of Darkness?”  
            “Is it even possible for humans to pass through such portals?”  
            “Tyrian used to be a part of Salem’s council” Lord Imperia said as she pondered this.  “While he was one of the new leaders of the Order for a short time following Lord Mortem’s death, he would often speak to me about how he and the other members of Salem’s council would pass through these portals to meet with her on a regular basis.”  
            “So what was stopping Lord Mortem from passing through and stealing her power from the beginning then?”  
            “While Grimm and other beings could pass through the gateways between the realms, Salem was bound to the Dark Realm due to her time spent there as well as the spell that Ozpin had cast upon her eons ago.  It would also stand to reason that Salem herself would approve if a person would be able to pass through without any harm or swift retribution from Grimm.  So Lord Mortem simply couldn’t have just walked through the gate and gained the power for himself.”  
            “So what’s stopping us from being barred from entering the Dark Realm ourselves?”  
            “Lord Mortem’s body is spewing nothing but dark energy in the Dark Realm” Lord Tenebris said as he pulled up old archival footage of Lord Mortem lying dead in the middle of a pool of darkness in Vytal.  “With Salem, she had her soul alongside her physical form to give commands to the Grimm to coordinate more calculated attacks.  But when Lord Mortem took the power, he had his soul and his body severed, leaving the body to spew power and Grimm infinitely, but without the mind of a living being to give them all direction.  So it is entirely possible that a person could walk through a gate and enter the Realm of Darkness since there isn’t a true gatekeeper any longer.”  
            “An astute observation Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said clasping her hands together.  She then turned her attention to her officers also in the room.  “Prepare a scan of the surrounding areas for potential Grimm hives that we can use to pass through to the Dark Realm.  And prepare a team for recon and potential strike tactics once we arrive.  We don’t know what to expect once we cross over to the other side.”  
            “I may not know what to expect,” Lord Tenebris said clenching his fists, “but I know that it will lead us to another step towards our absolute victory.”  
  


 

 

            “So if we take Hera into the Realm of Darkness,” Ozpin said trying to wrap his head around everything that Salem had just told him, “your power will be strong enough to act as a guide to lead us to the Relic within the Dark Realm?”  
            “Yes,” Salem said walking towards Hera.  “I am bound to this child as a passenger in the Realm of Light, but my power is linked directly to the Dark Realm, so while I still wouldn’t posses the child directly, I can speak to her even when she is awake to help guid you all to the Relic.”  
            “Pardon me ma’am,” Hera said scratching her head, “fighting the Order and Grimm are one thing, but going to another dimension and acting as a spirit map?  Sounds a bit much to me.”  
            “Even if this is the best option to move forward sister,” Ozpin said scratching his chin, “I doubt her parents would ever allow it.”  
            “There will be no danger whatsoever” Salem said with a smile.  “I guarantee it.”  
            “That isn’t very reassuring given your track record” Ozpin said with a worried smile.  Salem laughed a bit at this.  
            “I have missed our banter brother.  But I don’t think this spell will last much longer.  I suggest you leave before everything collapses in on you.  I will speak to you soon once we get everything situated when it comes to this mission of yours.”  
            “I suppose we will.  See you soon Salem.”  
            “See you soon Ozpin.”  With that, the white space faded away and Ozpin and Hera returned to Ozpin’s office, where it seemed that no visible time had passed whatsoever.  Ozpin smiled, while Hera just had a look of absolute confusion.  
            “What the heck is going on?” she said with worry in her voice.  “Your sister is in my head and she has a plan to get us another thing called a Relic and all this other stuff….” Hera was just talking a mile a minute, still trying to come to grips of what was going on.  Ozpin smiled, and placed his hand on her shoulder.  
            “It’s a lot for me to take in as well.  And I’ve lived longer than anybody currently on this planet.  But for now, we need to get some sleep.  I want to meet with your parents and a few select Huntsmen and Huntresses tomorrow about figuring out this whole expedition to the realm of darkness.”  
            “Am I really going to go on this mission Professor Ozpin?”  Ozpin could tell that Hera was clearly scared, so he gave her a quick hug.  
            “I know it’s scary, but you’ll have all of us watching over you.  We won’t let a single bad thing happen to you while we’re in there.  Besides, you just blew up an enemy base, didn’t you?  Honestly a trip through unexplored lands should be child’s play!”  Hera chuckled a bit at this, and stood up to leave.  
            “Okay, I’ll get some sleep and be back here as soon as I wake up.”  
            “I’ll be waiting” Ozpin said as he watched Hera descend the elevator.  As soon as she was gone, he looked out the window at the moon, thinking about everything that had just been put on his plate.  
            “I hope you know what you’re doing sister.”


	23. Episode 2: Chapter 4: Through the Gate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons.

Miles cracked his neck as he was still trying to wake up as Ozpin had called an priority meeting with everybody the moment the sun rose.  It wasn’t labeled as super urgent, just a meeting to discuss something important.  Miles reached the elevator and held the door open as Christy and Ty reached the elevator just before the doors closed.

            “I feel like we’ve been spending way too much time in this one building” Miles said with a  yawn.  “Why does Ozpin want us to meet with him so early?”  
            “Got me” Ty said as he leaned against the side of the elevator.  “Something really crazy must have happened last night to make him want to have our meeting be this morning instead of this afternoon like we had planned.”  
            “Do you still want to have that meeting with everybody in the amphitheater like you mentioned last night Miles?” Christy asked as she tried to deal with her morning hair.  
            “I hope we can.”  With that, the elevator reached Ozpin’s office and they walked into the main room. Everybody from Teams NEMN, JCTB, and BEAT was already there.  But to Miles’ surprise, the members of Team GASH were present as well, with Hera standing right next to Professor Ozpin.  
            “Ah, you made it” Ozpin said with a smile.  “Now we can begin.”  
            “About time you guys showed up” Jacob said jokingly.  
            “I only woke up fifteen minutes ago” Miles said with another yawn.  “Cut me some slack.”  
            “And you let him sleep in Blake?”  Yang said elbowing her friend.  
            “Not my fault that I wake up earlier and start my day sooner than he does” Blake said folding her arms with annoyance.  
            “But if you had seen that Ozpin wanted us to meet up why didn’t you wake me up?” Miles asked as he found an open seat.  
            “Ozpin sent the message after I had left to get some breakfast.”  
            “These trivial pieces of information are not important right now” Ozpin said as he stood up.  “Last night, I received new information regarding the whereabouts of the Relic of Death, and how we can claim it for our own.”  The room fell silent, as everyone turned their eyes to Professor Ozpin.  
            “I thought you said that the Relic of Death was hidden someplace we could never find it?” Jacob said putting his hand on his chin.  
            “Yes, it was hidden, but in a place where only one person could ever hope to find it.”  
            “It’s too early for riddles Ozpin” Terra said leaning back in her chair.  “Just get to the point already.”  
            “I second that” Brooklyn said raising her hand in the air.  
            “Very well then” Ozpin said as he took a sip from his coffee.  “Last night, young Hera here came to me with some interesting information regarding some dreams that she had been having as of late.”  
            “If my daughter is having weird dreams,” Natalie said leaning forward, “why is she going to you to talk about them?”  
            “Sorry mom” Hera said as she grabbed her arm.  “I had meant to talk to you about it, but I always felt like I needed to talk to Professor Ozpin specifically about these dreams.”  
            “And right you were to do so child” Ozpin said placing his hand on Hera’s shoulder.  “For as it turns out, Hera is far more special than we realized.  As it turns out, she is the vessel in which the spirit of my sister Salem lives on.”  Everybody shot up out of their seats, nobody said anything initially however.  
            “Excuse me what?” Natalie remarked, finally breaking the silence.  
            “How is this possible?” Evan said while running his hands through his hair.  “You said that Salem gave up her existence in order to save the world back when Mortem was about to destroy the entire world because he was too powerful or something?”  
            “Wait I’m lost” Bovia said raising her hand.  “What’s all of this about Salem and spirits and sisters?”  
            “Oh yeah,” Ember said wincing a little bit, “nobody ever got Bovia or Terra up to speed on what exactly our parents went through back in the day.”

“Also don’t forget the fact that now we’re brining all the members of Team GASH in on this big secret as well” Ty said rolling his eyes.  
            “Well, I had Beanie record several documents detailing what exactly happened when the Order first attacked years ago” Ozpin said as he took another sip of coffee.  “So for anyone who is confused or lost, I can provide you with detailed explanations of what transpired to lead to this point.  However, for the sake of not wasting more time, I would like to go over what exactly was said to me by my sister through Hera.”  
            “So how exactly does this work?” Christy said as she walked over and started inspecting Hera.  “Is this like split personalities between the two of them?  Or does Salem silently influence Hera’s actions and decisions?”  
            “Actually, my sister is just an observer.  It would seem that the power of the Wizard that was given to Salem was not the only thing necessary for keeping this world intact, but the soul of Salem as well is a critical piece in ensuring that this world remains intact.  However, given the fact that Salem’s original body was destroyed at the Battle of Beacon, there was no vessel for her soul to return to once Zenoma Mortem lost the full power of the Wizard.  So, she found a brand new life form that she could attach her soul to and remain an observer for the rest of the vessels life for eternity, watching the world change, unable to truly interact with it.  However, it would seem that she has the power to share memories with the vessel through dreams.  Salem used this to perhaps push Hera towards me so that she could let me know that she was still alive.  However, due to the recent resurgence of the Order, she felt it paramount to contact me and help us find the Relic of Death before the enemy does.  She knows where it is hidden, and it is hidden deep within the Dark Realm.”  
            “You mean the dimension where you sealed the lifeless body of Mortem years ago,” Ruby observed, “the same dimension where you said it would be impossible for normal people to get in or out of without magical help?”  
            “That is true, I did say that.  However, that was back before I knew that Salem had a council of humans who served her goals and provided intel about our world to her.  It would seem that it is possible that with enough protection, humans can pass through Grimm pools and enter into the Dark Realm unharmed.  As a result, anybody with the right equipment can pass through into the Dark Realm and claim whatever powers are available to them, including the Relic.”  
            “That does line up with some intel we got years ago back when the Order looked like it was about to pull off a comeback” Jacob said stepping forward.  “Ty, Brooklyn and myself had tracked down Dr. Watts to Mistral because of his former ties with Salem’s council.  Tyrian, another former member, had been recruited to be one of the new four leaders of the Order alongside Mortem’s old lieutenants until they all were mysteriously found tied up and placed on our doorstep for the police to find.  The two of them were both reported being near areas with high infestations of Grimm.  It’s possible they know the path to the Dark Realm if Tyrian shared that information with the Order.”

 “Which is precisely why I called you all here so quickly.  The Order is clearly trying to gather all of the Relics of our world, and we can’t allow them to do that.”  
            “Let me see if I’m understanding this correctly,” Ruby said stepping forward, “you want us to jump in headfirst into a pool of Grimm goo to try and find a needle in a haystack we know nothing about?”  
            “A good observation Mrs. Rose” Ozpin said as he grabbed his cane.  “However, we will have two advantages.  First of all, we have my magic on our side to open the door and lead us into the Dark Realm.  Secondly, Salem assured us that once we got to the Dark Realm, she would take care of everything.”  
            “How exactly?” Arri said scratching her head.  “Didn’t you say Salem is stuck inside my sisters head or something like that?”  
            “Salem’s power is greater in the Dark Realm.  She told me that once we arrive with Hera, she will take care of everything.”  
            “That doesn’t exactly give us a definitive answer…” Aurora said folding her arms.  
            “Are we all just going to dance around the real big issue of what Ozpin is suggesting here?” Yang said as she walked in front of everybody.  “Are we really okay with our youngest children waltzing right into the birthplace of all Grimm in existence?”  
            “That’s a good point” Blake said joining Yang.  “Fighting in the war is one thing, this is our home.  We know it forwards and backwards.  But this is a whole new reality.  Another world if you will.  And we know absolutely nothing about it!  For all we know it could have poison in the atmosphere!  Or it could be filled with dangerous pitfalls!  Oh and lest we forget, it’s where every single Grimm in existence is created and sent to our world!”  
            “I understand you all have concerns,” Ozpin said as he tried to calm the situation down, “but I can assure you, we will….”  
            “You can assure?” Miles said as he drew one of his swords and pointed it at Ozpin.  “Not thirty years ago we were fighting against the hordes of monsters that your sister commanded!  And now you expect us to fully trust sending our children into the literal dark half of our world in order to find a single item?”  
            “I understand there is reason for concern, but Salem did return to our side in the critical moment against Lord Mortem.  And she has assured me that she cannot do anything to harm us even if she wanted to.”  
            “Yeah, right now in our dimension she can’t, but once we go to where she is at her strongest, doesn’t that leave us wide open to all kinds of trouble?!”  
            “She cannot fully control Hera’s body.  Therefore, she will not be able to do anything that will directly harm us by her own hand.  Besides, if she is attempting to trick us, I do have several spells that I can use to ensure that she remains cooperative.”  
            “I still don’t like the idea of sending the students into someplace so dangerous” Christy said stepping forward as well.  “Not just as a friend to these children and their families, but also as one of your faculty members Ozpin.  We can’t just endanger the children like this.”

“I understand that element, but I can promise you, everybody will be safe.  I will make sure of it.  And I would prefer if we made our preparations now rather than later.  For all we know, the Order could already be there searching for the Relic.  And if they get their hands on it, regardless of what they plan to do with all of them combined, individually the Relic of Death is easily the most deadly of the four.”  
            “Makes you wonder how it got the word death in it” Ty said sarcastically.  
            “This is serious” Ozpin said as he walked around his desk to where everybody was standing.  “The Relic of Death was sealed in the Dark Realm because that is the only place in this entire universe where it can’t fully destroy everything.  But if it is brought back here, it could potentially destroy everything if used in the proper sequence.”  
            “What the heck?” Evan yelled at Ozpin, “why would something that powerful exist?!  How could something that powerful even exist?”  
            “The gods of Light and Darkness created a balance.  Just as the Relic of Death is hidden in the Dark Realm, the Relic of Life is hidden somewhere here in our world.  I have had no prior experience with the Relics myself mind you, but I always was told by my father the Wizard how he would use the Relics to reset this world over and over again before he had me and Salem.”  
            “Pleasant thought…..” Terra said shuddering a little bit.  
            “However, the gods revealed to me and my sister of another role that the Relics play.  If all four of them are brought together, the gods of Light and Darkness will be summoned here.  They told me and Salem only to do so in case of an absolute emergency, such as if the universe was about to collapse or something of that nature.”  
            “And you didn’t think to call them here when Mortem was literally about to destroy the world with his power trip?” Natalie said as she pointed at Ozpin.  
            “We were dead Natalie.  You were there, you saw us.”  
            “Oh yeah, right.”  
            “I know this is a big gamble.  The Order has been quiet for weeks now, we just took back Mistral, and things seem to be going our way.  But the Order isn’t going to lie in wait forever.  If they know about the Relics, then they know about the power that not just one of them, but all of them combined.  They know what they can accomplish.  And because of that, we cannot allow them to act whatsoever.  We must secure all the Relics before the Order can even think about getting new ones or reclaiming the ones they have already lost.”  Everybody remained silent, still processing everything that Ozpin had told them.  “This is the job.  You all took an oath to protect this world.  And in order to protect this world, we must take this step.  Please, this is something we must do.”  Everybody still remained silent.  Then, Natalie stepped forward.  
            “I mean, I’ve been dead before.  A new dimension or something like that doesn’t sound too out there for me.  Plus, we’ll have the advantage of Ozpin’s magic on our side.  I say we go for it.”  
            “You do realize,” Yang said walking up next to Natalie, “you’d be sending your youngest daughter, all of our children, into a mission that we may not come back from.”  
            “Well, that’s how it goes with pretty much every mission, right?”  
            “We didn’t stop when we went face to face with a literal god years ago” Brooklyn said stepping forward.  “And I say we shouldn’t stop now.  One way or another, things are going to probably get worse until they get better.  This way, we can stop the problem at the source instead of waiting for it to get worse.”  
            “As much as I hate to admit it,” Ruby said stepping forward as well, “she’s right.  We need to deal with this before the Order has the means to kill us all for good this time.  I say we go.”  Everybody in the room, while having reservations, all nodded in agreement.  
            “How many troops are we bringing with us Ozpin?” Miles asked as he put his sword away.  “Probably going to need a whole Atlesian platoon just to deal with all the Grimm in there.”  
            “Unfortunately, the magic required to open a gate to the Dark Realm is not powerful enough to allow more than a few teams through the gate.  Alongside that, the Relic of Connection while powerful, requires that we take it with us in order to return to our own world.  And if we lose it while in the Dark Realm, well then we may as well start a new civilization in that reality.”  
            “Not exactly comforting….” Yang said as she grasped her robot arm.  
            “I trust no other team than you all here” Ozpin said as he sat back down behind his desk.  “And I know I just woke you all up to tell you we need to take on another mission, so take a moment to finally wake up.  Get some breakfast in all of you, get prepared for the mission, and meet up in the courtyard in thirty minutes.  Any concerns?”  Nobody said anything, so Ozpin simply smiled and said, “Then I will see you when it is time.”  With that said, everybody got back on the elevators and made their descent back to their own dorms and accommodations, knowing full well that they would need to be prepared for anything.

 

 

 

Hera strapped on her travel pack and made sure her gauntlets had enough ammunition to last her more than just one fight.  As she got ready to join Ozpin in the courtyard, she saw the rest of her teammates preparing for the journey as well.  
            “You know,” Hera said grabbing her arm, “you guys don’t have to come with.”  
            “Where’s that coming from?” Aurora said with a smirk.  “You honestly think we’re just going to let you do this alone?”  
            “I mean, our parents all seemed pretty upset about the fact that we were even considering joining them on this journey.”  
            “Of course.  That’s because they’re our parents.  And even if Ozpin didn’t specifically say that we had to come along, he also didn’t specifically say we don’t have to come along.”  
            “You’re our teammate Hera” Sora said as he strapped on his boots.  “And even though we just started school, we need to stick together no matter what.  That’s how teams work.”  
            “There is no way that we are going to let you go alone cousin” Gray said with a smile as he placed his hand on her shoulder.  “We’re Team GASH.  If we’re going to break all of Team BEAT’s records, then we had better do it together.”  Everybody smiled, feeling much better after the tension had finally been cut.  They then left the dorms and made their way to the courtyard where everyone was waiting for them.  
            “Sorry we took so long!” Hera said trying to hide the fact that she was embarrassed.  
            “I could have been here sooner,” Aurora joked as she started using her Semblance to run back and forth between her other three teammates, “but I didn’t want to disrupt the whole team dynamic and all that!”  
            “Aurora,” Sora said with a sigh, “weren’t you the one who started talking about the importance of teamwork first back there?”  
            “Shut up Sora!  You’re going to make me look bad!”  Everyone laughed, but the sense of seriousness returned as they all gathered around Ozpin in the courtyard.  
            “Well then,” he said as he raised his cane up.  “Here we go.”  Striking his cane into the ground, several magical symbols lit up on the ground, and began hovering.  They then began to spin around, creating a giant white funnel, surrounding everybody.  Then, almost in an instant, the funnel turned black, and collapsed into the ground.  Now everybody stood no longer at Beacon Academy, but in the middle of a plain in the Dark Realm.  It was truly an inspiring sight.  The rocks were blood read, the dust a fine crimson, and only the pools of Grimm ooze provided any form of color beyond a base of red.  Even the sun, while clearly not red in and of itself, was no match for all of the red it illuminated, making everything seem red, no matter where you looked.  
            “You know, for a place called the Dark Realm,” Ruby said as she took off her hood, “I expected something a bit more….black?”  
            “That’s not important right now!”  Miles yelled as he drew one of his blades.  “Look alive!”  Everybody looked up at one of the ridges just ahead of them and saw that several Beowolves were waiting on top of the ridge, their growls getting louder and louder.  
            “Well,” Jacob said as he prepared his weapons, “we may be in another dimension, but at least the enemy is still pretty much the same.”  Everybody had their weapons ready, just waiting for the first move to be made by either side.  
            “Wait!”  Hera’s voice cut through the tension, causing everybody to turn back towards her and see that she was now glowing with a red aura, separate from her own.  She then walked past everybody and towards the Grimm.  Once she was clear of everybody, one of the Grimm started barreling down the side of the cliff towards Hera.  Natalie was about to launch herself towards Hera to cut down the creature, but Ozpin held her back.  
            “What are you doing?” Natalie yelled as she tried to get past Ozpin.  
            “Wait” he said as he watched Hera’s movement with great intent.  The Grimm reached the bottom of the cliff and continued to run straight towards Hera.  But she didn’t flinch one inch.  She simply raised her hand at the charging beast, and said with what sounded like two voices,  
            “Hold.”  The Grimm came to a screeching halt and tilted its head at Hera.  Hera then walked towards the Grimm and started to pet it, using a large portion of the red aura that was surrounding her body.  This aura passed along the Grimm’s body, causing it to howl into the sky, resulting in all the other Grimm at the top of the cliff to howl as well.  
            “Such loyal creatures” a voice came out of Hera’s mouth, but it didn’t belong to her.  
            “Salem?” Ozpin asked as he walked over to where Hera was standing.  
            “Good to see you brother” Salem said as she continued to speak through Hera’s body.  Natalie walked over to Hera and started inspecting her and this new strange red glow emanating from her body.  
            “Hey, I thought you said that you couldn’t control her body?!” Natalie said concerned once she realized who was present in this moment.  
            “I don’t have full control” Salem said calmly.  “I am still just an observer in the body of this vessel.  However, this is where I am most powerful, so I can at least talk and help you all out on this mission.”

“And what about what you just did with the Grimm?” Brooklyn asked as she poked one of the Beowolves with her weapon and it didn’t even flinch.

“These creatures were the closest thing I had to companions until I started forming my council years ago” Salem said with a sigh.  “I learned to control them during my time here, as well as communicate.  They may seem mindless, but they all have an innate drive to serve the destructive will of the god of Darkness.  And seeing how the god of Darkness created this place, the Grimm are perfect guides to finding the Relic of Death.”  
            “You never found the relic yourself sister?” Ozpin asked surprised.  
            “In all honesty,” Salem said with a smirk, “I was so confident that I could defeat you using my own methods that I never bothered to truly use the Relic for myself no matter how much I wished to allow my followers to take it back to your world and strike it down in an instant.”  
            “Are we seriously still blindly trusting this woman?” Christy said with an annoyed tone.  
            “However,” Salem continued to speak ignoring Christy’s complaint, “the Grimm here are all well versed in the lay of this land.  They can take us to where the Relic is kept.  From there, you can take it for yourselves and be out of here before anyone from the Order even arrives.”  
            “Very good” Ozpin said with a smile.  “Lead on sister.”  With that, everybody fell into place behind the Grimm led by Salem/Hera and prepared for a long walk.

 

 

 

Several scout drones flew around the vicinity, each of them beeping and chirping as they returned to their home base.  The soldier operating them linked them with the computer and uploaded several images to a nearby monitor.  
            “Looks like the drones have found something Lord Imperia” the soldier said as Lord Imperia started examining the images.  
            “How intriguing” she said with a  sick smile.  “Two birds with one stone.”  She quickly turned and made her way to the communications tent.  When she got there, she grabbed a radio receiver and turned it on.  
            “Lord Tenebris, can you hear me?  I repeat, Lord Tenebris, can you hear me?”  The radio remained silent for a moment, then crackled to life.  
            “I’m here Lord Imperia” Lord Tenebris responded over the radio.  “What have you found?”

“Some guests have arrived early” Lord Imperia said with a smile.  “I am sending you the scout drone that found them so that it can lead you to where they are going.  It stands to reason that they are going to be making a beeline for the Relic.  Make sure they don’t spot you.”

“Lord Imperia, may I ask who all is with them?”

“They are all there Lord Tenebris.  I am not interested in prisoners, but the Relic takes priority.  Do not let your own vengeance keep you from accomplishing the larger goal.”  
            “As you wish Lord Imperia.  I will report back in once I have recovered the Relic.”  Lord Imperia turned off the radio, and then grabbed her staff and made her way over to Lord Sangui.  
            “Lord Tenebris will be dealing with the Relic.  The scout drones have found our second objective, however.”  
            “How do you wish to proceed my lord?” Lord Sangui said as he cracked his fists.  
            “Bring a few troops along to protect the containment pod.  We don’t know what will happen once we find the body.  We also need to ensure that we complete this task before Lord Tenebris gets back.  See to it Lord Sangui.  I’ll be ready whenever you are.”  
            “As you wish my lord.”


	24. Episode 2: Chapter 5: Split

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons.

The team continued to trek onwards across the cliffs and hills that littered the path that the Grimm were leading everybody down.  Nobody said a word, nor did anyone make a deviation in their rhythm of walking.  It was all still sinking in for them.   The sights, the sounds, and even the feelings that came with it.  Ember looked over at a black pool down the hill where they were walking and saw Grimm climbing their way out of the ooze.  It was a sight that nobody ever thought they would see in all their natural lives.  Still, they pressed on like it was any other mission, trying to make sure that they didn’t do anything wrong or out of sequence that would possibly cause the Grimm to attack in an instant.  Suddenly, a small Nevermore flew down from the sky and landed on Hera’s arm.  Everybody except for Ozpin immediately pointed their weapons right at the bird the instant it got close to Hera.  
            “Calm down” Salem said speaking through Hera.  “This is just one of my scouts.”  
            “I swear on my life,” Natalie said staring down the scope of her weapon, “if you even think about hurting her….”  
            “If I hurt your daughter child, then I effectively destroy myself as well” Salem said with an annoyed tone.  “I am here to guide you, not to trap you and use you as food or something.”  Everybody put their weapons away, Natalie muttered under her breath,  
            “I’m over forty years old you know….”  
            “And I’m over forty centuries old child.  Now if we could return to the task at hand, it would seem we are not alone.”  Everybody turned their attention to their surroundings, trying to see if they could spot any enemies trying to ambush them.  “Not right here you idiots” Salem said waving her hand towards a mountain to the west of them.  “off towards the pools that lead to the eastern lands of Remnant.”  
            “The Order?” Jacob said with concern in his voice.  
            “They’re already here” Ozpin said as his eyes widened.  “We may have lost already”  
            “Calm down brother” Salem said as she sent the Nevermore back into the sky.  “They aren’t an absolute threat just yet.  For the time being, it seems that they are just sitting around waiting for something to happen. Most likely, they are tracking us to try and find the Relic.”  
            “How should we play this then?” Blake asked as she looked around the barren landscape.  “We can’t hide very well, and if we let them follow us, they’ll ambush us with an army.”  
            “What if we split up?” Hera suggested raising her hand.  
            “I don’t like that idea” Miles said folding his arms.  “If we split up, we’re at the disadvantage when the Order decides to attack.”  
            “But if we do split up,” Brooklyn said as she scratched her chin, “then the Order is going to have to split up as well.  It won’t be much easier, but if we can at least draw some of them away from the Relic, then that makes our lives much easier.”  
            “Be that as it may,” Christy said as she held her arm, “I’m not exactly too keen on the idea of splitting up in a place like this.  Who’s to say that the team that goes away from the Relic won’t end up lost or attacked by Grimm?”  
            “I can send another guide to ensure you won’t get lost or eaten” Salem said stepping forward.  She waved her hand and caused a few more Grimm to arrive and circle around the group.  
            “Not exactly a comforting image here….” Arri said as she shuffled her feet a bit.  
            “All right” Jacob said putting his hands together.  “We’ll split up.  Miles, Natalie, Christy, Ty, Blake, and Team BEAT, you all follow the guide and be the diversion.  The rest of us will continue to follow Hera and Salem and recover the Relic.”  
            “You sure that’s the best option right now?” Natalie said scratching her head.  
            “It makes the most sense.  Once we reach the Relic, we will contact you so long as our Scrolls have enough local range to remain connected.  If not, we can have you set off a signal flare to let us know where you are. Hopefully you will have dispatched whatever team the Order sends your way, and then can join us at the location of the Relic to deal with the remainder of the Order.”

            “How are we supposed to get to you that quickly?” Miles asked as he loaded his weapons with dust crystals.  “If we really are splitting up, then we aren’t exactly going to be just a few blocks away.”  
            “You will have your daughters speed to help assist with that.  She can transport everybody from your location to our location in a matter of seconds.”  
            “Um, real quick?” Aurora said as she ran in between Jacob and Miles, “I’m not sure my aura levels are going to be fully up to par for transporting people back and forth, let alone just running that kind of distance.”  
            “Christy and Bovia can help replenish your Aura levels as you make the trips.  Hopefully, Salem won’t have her Grimm take you too far away from us.”  
            “I’ll make sure that we are all still within a reasonable range” Salem waved her arm and the Grimm made its way down a winding path into a nearby valley.  “For the Relic, stay with me.  For the diversion, head into the valley.  My scouts will still be patrolling the skies, so when they spot the Order, they will make sure you have the advantage when combat begins.”  
            “All right” Yang said as she gave Ember a quick hug.  “Stay safe everybody.”  
            “We’ll do our best” Terra said putting her hands behind her head.  With that, the two teams split, and continued on their own paths towards their own objectives.

 

 

 

            The valley continued to spiral the deeper and deeper they went along the path that the Grimm was leading them down.  
            “Are you sure we aren’t going to end up completely and utterly lost?” Ty asked as he picked up a rock from the ground.  “I could have sworn that we’ve passed these same rock formations ten different times now.”  
            “Not like there’s much variety” Christy said as she ran her fingers across the valley wall.  “Everything here is blood red.  Maybe Ruby was onto something about the whole color scheme of the dark realm.”  
            “It doesn’t matter right now” Miles said as he kicked up some dirt.  “At the very least, we can see.  I was honestly expecting the Dark Realm to be more literal in terms of visibility.  Take what you can get.”  
            “Speaking of which,” Blake said leaping up to try and get a better view of further down the winding path, “it looks like we’re about to finally come out of the valley.”  
            “Can you see what’s ahead?” Bovia asked as she walked up beneath Blake.  
            “Looks like a giant clearing” Blake said as she strained her eyes to adjust to the brighter red in the distance.  “Kind of looks like ruins of a city.”  
            “I thought Salem was the only person who lived here?” Miles said tilting his head.  “How can there be ruins?”  
            “You don’t think she wanted a roof over her head during the centuries she spent here all by herself?” Ty said stretching his arms.  “You and I struggled for a few months without a proper roof over our heads before we went to Beacon.”  
            “I thought you said that you guys stayed at hotels from time to time?” Blake said chuckling a little bit.  
            “We’re getting off track here” Miles said completely embarrassed.  “Can you see anything else other than the ruins?”

            “Well, I can see what looks like a Grimm pool.  It’s kind of a bit more bubbly than the ones we passed earlier.”  
            “Bubbly?  How do you mean?”  
            “It’s hard to explain from up here.  Let’s get closer.”  With that, Blake jumped back down and rejoined everyone as they continued through the valley.  Once they reached the clearing, they could see the full ruins that Blake had seen.  A giant space with crumbling pillars and statues, with a few drifts of red sand covering the ground.  
            “What do you think this place was?” Christy asked as she walked over to a collapsed pillar.  
            “Looks like some kind of temple” Bovia said as she picked up a broken piece of a statue.  “Maybe people worshiped Salem here?”  
            “Is that even possible?” Arri said as she found old bowls filled with petrified fruits and vegetables.  “Everything we’ve heard about Salem suggests that she was alone for an eternity.  Did she just build a shrine to herself?”  
            “She does sound like the kind of person who would do that” Terra said as she pushed a rock off of a nearby edge.  “Besides, Salem had people constantly passing through those Grimm gates in order to get here to serve her and her council, right?  Maybe Salem tried to start her own church back in the day.”  
            “Whatever the case, we shouldn’t dawdle here for long” Miles said making his way through the rubble.  “I think the our Grimm guide is getting a bit restless.  Blake, you coming?”  But Blake didn’t respond.  She was standing next to the giant bubbling pool of Grimm ooze that she had seen earlier, staring into its depths.  Everybody walked over to where she was standing and got a much better look into the pool, and everybody’s faces turned white with horror.  The pool itself was shaped like a sinkhole, with the Grimm ooze flowing into the center of the pit.  But hovering just above the pit was what caused everybody to react the way they did.  In the middle of the pit was a figure.  A man, completely shriveled up and decayed, without any signs of normal life.  He had no real skin, and whatever shriveled up muscles and bones he had left were now pitch black like the ooze that surrounded him.  And on top of that, his mouth was wide open, his eyes had disintegrated into nothing, and where his heart used to be was now an empty void.  Along with that, there was a giant gash across his torso.  And out of every single one of these orifices, more of the Grimm ooze was flowing out into the pit.  Everybody almost fell over seeing this sight.  Natalie placed her hands over her mouth in horror.  
            “That’s…that’s……”  
            “Lord Mortem” a new voice cut in, causing everybody to jump.  They turned to see Lord Imperia standing alongside Lord Sangui and several Order soldiers, all of them with weapons drawn.  “This is what happened to him after you killed him,” Imperia said as she pointed her staff at Natalie, “and Ozpin left him here to rot for the rest of eternity.”  Everybody quickly drew their weapons and stepped away from the pit.  
            “The Relic isn’t here” Miles said pointing his sword at Imperia.  “Sorry to disappoint you, but you walked right into our trap.”  
            “We aren’t here for the Relic child” Lord Sangui said with an evil laugh.  “That’s the mission of the other squad.  We’re here for our former leader.”  Everybody tilted their heads a bit when Lord Sangui said this.  
            “What do you guys want with this horrifying corpse?” Ty asked as he morphed his weapon to bazooka form.  
            “That’s enough Lord Sangui” Lord Imperia said raising her hand to stop him from speaking further.  “We don’t want to give too much away now do we?”  
            “How about we beat you to a pulp and then you tell us everything we want to know?” Ember said as she fired her weapons at the enemy.  Imperia and Sangui leapt out of the way of the blasts, but a good chunk of the soldiers were hit by the attack and sent flying.  Those who managed to avoid the attack charged forward along with Imperia and Sangui and the battle was joined.  Lord Sangui immediately started splitting into several different clones of himself and each of them attacked a different target.  The main body stayed back a short ways while the clones took all the damage.  Blake struggled to get a clean hit on the yellow clone, as it continued to dodge and sneak in well calculated strikes.  Blake managed to use her after-image to dodge most of the attacks, but she still kept losing small amounts of Aura overtime.  Meanwhile, Miles was constantly parrying the attacks from the red clone as it attacked him head on without any pause or concern for its own life.  Miles decided that in order to turn the situation around, he needed to use the clones brutish nature to his advantage.  When the clone rushed in for another attack, Miles activated his Semblance and used it on the clone, causing it to float up into the air.  The clone thrashed about, trying to break free, but Miles simply deactivated his Semblance, causing the clone to fall onto his sword and dissipate into nothing and flow back into Lord Sangui.  Once he was sure that the clone had been dispatched, Miles ran over to Blake to try and help her with the clone she was fighting.  Meanwhile, Christy was going toe to toe with the blue clone.  This clone seemed much more intent on defensive and counter tactics than direct attack, which meant Christy had to focus more on generic tactics to counter the simple pattern that her opponent had.  She had seen combat techniques like this a dime a dozen teaching classes at Beacon, and she knew all the holes and exploitable openings in the pattern.  After a few minutes of following a pattern and lulling the clone into a repetitive pattern, Christy let the clone land one hit on her shoulder, then sliced up with one of her axes, slicing off the right arm of the clone.  The clone reacted, and in that moment, Christy morphed one of her weapons to rifle form and blasted the clone into oblivion.  With that, she turned her attention to see if Ty needed any help fighting the Orange clone, but then saw that it was no issue whatsoever.  The clone was hitting Ty left and right, trying to break through his absolute defense.  But without flinching even once, Ty simply pulled out his bazooka and blasted the clone into oblivion.  Everybody kept fighting, making sure that their friends were still alive and holding their own.  The clones of Lord Sangui continued to diminish, but the soldiers were still great in number.  Team BEAT was dealing with all these different groups as well, but Ember noticed that Lord Imperia had taken a few soldiers and had directed them away from the battle and towards the pit where Lord Mortem’s body was.  Ember quickly dispatched the soldier she was fighting and ran through everybody to get to Lord Imperia.  Ember initially aimed for the soldiers, planning on removing any form of backup that Lord Imperia could have, but before she could strike, Lord Imperia blocked the attack with her staff, and pushed Ember off and took up a battle stance.  
            “Do what needs to be done” Imperia said to the soldiers behind her.  “I will keep her here.”  With that, the soldiers activated some kind of force field armor, and started making their way into the pit where Mortem’s body was.  Ember pulled back and launched herself towards Lord Imperia, her tonfas clashing with Imperia’s staff.  The two of them went back and forth, Ember very much on the offensive with quick strikes, and Lord Imperia being much more defensive, blocking attacks with her staff while also avoiding them entirely with small bursts of Dust energy.  Ember was getting annoyed by these tactics from Lord Imperia, so she decided to try a different trick.  She pulled back, and started running forward like she was going to attack head on.  Lord Imperia prepared for the attack, but the moment that it seemed like the attack should have connected with her staff, the tonfas faded right through her, as did the rest of Ember’s body.  In that moment, Ember had turned herself intangible and phased right through Lord Imperia.  She phased out the back, and once she was fully clear of her, Ember turned solid again, spun around, and landed a massive hit on Lord Imperia, which sent her flying back towards where the original Lord Sangui was meditating and commanding his clones.  Ember wanted to pursue and try to continue the fight, but she decided to turn her attention to the soldiers in the pit.  As she ran back to where the body was, she saw that the soldiers had placed the oozing body of Lord Mortem into a medical pod and had fired a flare into the sky.  Ember tried to attack the soldiers and take back the pod, but before she could do so, Lord Imperia had launched herself back towards Ember and struck a powerful blow, knocking Ember into the ground. Ember tried to get back up, but Lord Imperia fired a powerful charge of fire dust directly at Ember’s head.  Her aura took most of the blast, but she knew that another attack like that could potentially not just deplete her aura, but kill her entirely.  Ember quickly phased out of the hold and retreated back to her teammates.  Lord Imperia cracked her neck, and grabbed a radio out of her belt.  
            “Impressive child.  I suppose he did train you after all.”  
            “Huh?”  Before Ember could question Lord Imperia further, Imperia activated the radio and said,  
            “Target secure.  Bring in the pickup.”  Seconds later, an airship flew in and started raining cover fire around the pit.  Everybody except for the Order fell back into the valley, trying to make sure they weren’t hit by the rain of bullets.  Ty pulled out his bazooka and fired a few rockets towards the airship, but Lord Imperia used Wind Dust to cause the rockets to fly harmlessly off into the distance.  Seconds later, the airship touched down next to the pit, the soldiers loaded the medical pod with Lord Mortem’s body, then they took off and flew into the distance.  Once the ship was gone, everybody made their way back out of the valley and inspected the pit, watching as the Grimm ooze just trickled down into the hole at the bottom like water circling a shower drain.  
            “What the heck just happened?” Ty said as he put his weapon away.  “I thought the Order was after the Relic, not some shriveled up corpse?”  
            “Better question,” Miles said as he put his swords away, “what do we do now?  We just got our butts handed to us by the Order, and if they are going after the Relic alongside the corpse, then who’s to say that we just let the other team down because we couldn’t stop them?”

            “We need to find them” Christy said as she reloaded her weapons.  “Miles, you might be able to get high enough that you could spot the other group.”  Before Miles could do so however, they noticed a flare flying off in the distance.  
            “Is that one of ours or the Order’s?” Arri asked as she collected herself.  
            “Not sure” Bovia said studying it closely.  “It doesn’t look like any of the regular flare colors.”  
            “That’s my mom’s flare” Ember said as she regained her bearings.  “She’d fire it often whenever we got in too deep during training and needed dad to give us a lift back home.”  
            “Well if that’s the case,” Terra said with a sigh, “then that’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”  Everybody gathered themselves and started making their way towards the flare.  
            “I hope they had better luck than we did” Christy said as she healed up people’s wounds while they were walking.


	25. Episode 2: Chapter 6: Sever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons.

The Grimm continued to lead the team further along the plains towards a deep valley.  Everybody remained silent, not sure what to say.  They just kept walking further and further as the valley in front of them grew larger and larger.  Gray kept fidgeting with his fingers as they walked along, trying to keep to himself.  Sora noticed that he was struggling a bit and walked over next to him.  
            “You doing all right man?” Sora whispered to Gray.  
            “No, I’m not doing all right!” Gray whispered back.  “Let’s put aside the fact that we are literally freshmen being tasked with missions to other dimensions, but apparently my cousin has the soul of our headmasters sister inside of her, and now apparently she can control Grimm!  Does that sound like something you can wrap your head around in a short amount of time?  We just woke up and all of a sudden everything’s gone absolutely crazy!”  
            “Yeah,” Aurora said as she walked over and joined them as well.  “I’m honestly curious how my parents are going to spin this about how they had it tougher when they were my age.”  
            “For real though!” Gray said tossing his hands in the air.  “It seems like the adults get the easy work as Huntsmen and Huntresses and the kids end up with all the crazy secret society junk that makes absolutely no sense!”  
            “Hey,” Yang said as she put her arm around her son, “we’re in the same boat as you.  And we’ve been dealing with this secret society nonsense even before you were born.”  
            “I can admit though,” Ruby said as she joined the small group, “this is a bit much to start with compared to how we all first dealt with the Order.”  
            “Speak for yourself” Brooklyn said as she slowed down to join the now growing conversation.  “During my freshman year, I had to kill my mom who I didn’t even know was still alive.”  
            “Not that I’m trying to flex here,” Jacob said joining in, “but I had to deal with both my parents being killed because they were on the wrong side at the wrong time.”  
            “This isn’t exactly the best time or place to be trying to make brags about who had the worst experience their freshman year” Evan said as he put his hands behind his back.  “We have enough on our plates as it is.  Besides, We shouldn’t try to use our losses and our failures to measure how much we have had to endure compared to others, but use it as motivation in order to move forward and be better to ensure that something like that never happens to anyone we love ever again.”  
            “That is truly the way you should look at this job” Ozpin said chiming in from further ahead where he was standing next to Hera.  “This isn’t about who has endured more, it is who has faced adversity and found the strength to overcome it in place of using it as an excuse to have people pity and pamper you.”  
            “True enough” Ruby said as she smiled.  “All we can do is move forward for those we’ve lost.”  
            “Right” Jacob said cracking his knuckles.  “For everyone we’ve lost.”  
            “Such a sweet sentiment” Salem said speaking through Hera’s body again.  “If I had known more humans like you during the early years, I probably would not have fallen down the path that I did.”  
            “The humans of yesteryear must have been pretty bad if they made you fight your brother and command an army of monsters from another dimension” Yang said with a chuckle.  
            “You’d be surprised” Salem said with a sigh.  “But enough about what was.  We have arrived.”  The group reached the edge of the deep valley before them and saw that it was more like a crater than anything else.  Everything was slanted down into the center, almost like a meteor had slammed into it.  The ground leading to the center of the valley was loose and slippery, but everybody could see it even from as high as they were.  The base of the valley was a smooth glass-like surface that reflected everything.  And floating in the center of it was a black scythe.  The scythe itself didn’t look as sophisticated or as complex as Ruby’s or Natalie’s, but more like an old farming tool made of wood.  The blade however, stood out immensely.  It was pure black, darker than any night that could be conceived.  And even from all the way up at the top, everyone could feel the immense pressure that this blade emitted.  Brooklyn shuddered due to this pressure.  
            “It can’t hurt us, can it?” Brooklyn asked as she took a step away from the edge of the valley.  
            “The Relic itself while powerful,” Salem said as she started walking down into the center of the valley, “cannot harm the user so long as they don’t cut or harm themselves with the blade.  The handle is more of a vessel for the blade, to make it easier to transport and use.”  
            “So if we touch the blade we die automatically?” Jacob said as he followed Salem down into the valley.  
            “Not quite.  The power of death also includes decay, and unless one uses the blade to strike a convincing blow, a touch will simply cause the victim to begin to decay and fade into death.”  
            “Pleasant thought….” Ruby said as she tugged at her collar.  As they reached the bottom of the valley, everybody stood around the Relic, just staring at it in awe and fear.  
            “Not it” Yang said with a nervous laugh.  
            “I’ll take it” Ozpin said as he stepped forward.  “I am the main magic user amongst our group, so I should be safer than the rest of you.”  Everybody smiled nervously as Ozpin took the Relic like he was simply picking up a stick.  As he turned to head back up the valley, he saw Hera placing her hand on her head.  
            “What’s wrong sister?” Ozpin said as he walked over.  
            “It’s your friends” Salem said.  “My Grimm tell me that they are under attack.”  
            “The Order found them?” Evan said with concern.  “Why did they go after them and not us?”  
            “They must have thought they were heading to the Relic” Jacob said scratching his chin.  “It’s possible they don’t have enough troops here to have two search parties, so they took a gamble as to which group was going to claim the Relic and which group was the decoy.  And they must have chosen wrong.”  
            “Assumptions are nothing without evidence” a new voice cut in.  Everybody looked up to see that on the ridge opposite of where they entered stood Lord Tenebris with a squad of soldiers with their guns pointed right at them.  “You aren’t giving the Order enough credit.  We have more than enough to deal with the likes of you.  Open fire!”  As soon as he said that, the soldiers fired upon everyone in the center of the valley.  Brooklyn quickly morphed her weapon to shield form while Gray took the metal around his arms and formed a shield as well.  Sora was able to use his shields as well, but since they weren’t as big as Gray’s or Brooklyn’s he reserved himself to make sure that he could find some cover behind either of the two.  Ozpin stepped out into the fray of bullets and seemed to move so fast that his cane blocked every single bullet fired at him.  Aurora drew her swords and kept watching to see if she could find an opening to run up and start taking the soldiers down.  Evan, Yang and Ruby were all firing back at the soldiers, while Hera was struggling a little bit.  
            “Let me fight!” Hera said as she grabbed her head.  
            “I’m stronger than you child!” Salem said to Hera internally.  “And I control the Grimm!  I am far more useful than you!”  
            “This is my family!” Hera said loading her weapon.  “This is my body!  And if you’re stuck inside me, then I suggest you figure out a way for the two of us to work together so that we can take care of these jerks!”  
            “Fine.  Just don’t do anything too reckless.  You are responsible for more than just your own life now.”  
            “I have my own life to worry about too you know!”  With that, Hera took her iron gloves and started firing at the Order as well.  Lord Tenebris just stood there, watching everything unfold, occasionally sidestepping return fire here and there.  After a few minutes of this, he leapt into the valley and started sliding down the side towards the center.  The team concentrated their fire on him, but the moment that they did, Lord Tenebris took out his sword, and struck the ground sending a powerful soundwave back towards the team.  Most of them managed to defend themselves against this blow, but Sora and Aurora lost their balance and got knocked back a few paces, with Sora getting a little airborne.  He took this opportunity to take to the skies and fly up towards the enemy soldiers that were still raining fire down on them.  He took his shields, and initially used the gun portion of them to return fire on the Order soldiers.  As he came in closer to the soldiers, he took his shields and morphed them together to form one short sword and began engaging the enemy.  Aurora realized what Sora was doing, and activated her speed to run up the side of the hill and prepared to attack the soldiers.  But just as she was about to clear the lip of the valley, a flurry of rose petals flew past her and started attacking the Order.  
            “Oh come on!”  Aurora said as she drew her swords and started attacking another group of soldiers.  She started engaging the enemy while Ruby finished up the group of soldiers that she had started to take care of.  
            “You’re still too slow kid!” she said with a grin.  They continued to deal with the grunt soldiers up top. Meanwhile, Lord Tenebris finally reached the bottom of the valley and started fighting off everybody down there. Every attack that the team tried to land, Lord Tenebris had already anticipated and dodged them with ease.  Yang rushed forward to punch him with her gauntlets, but he blocked the attack with his sword, and the impact from Yang’s attack caused a small shockwave to knock her back.  Evan tried to distract him by sparring with him while Brooklyn snuck up behind him having morphed her weapon from shield form to scimitar form, but Lord Tenebris trapped Evan’s spear in between the prongs of his sword, and spun him around knocking him into Brooklyn.  Ozpin and Jacob both tried to face him next, Ozpin facing Tenebris head on while Jacob tried to knock Tenebris off balance with some well placed Dust kunai.  But every single kunai that was thrown, Lord Tenebris managed to throw back at Jacob.  Ozpin managed to hold his own however, trading blow for blow with Tenebris.  However, Tenebris stabbed his sword into the ground creating another shockwave that hit Ozpin hard.  He stabbed his cane into the ground, reducing the amount of knockback from the attack.  In that moment, Gray and Hera rushed forward and started attacking Lord Tenebris as well.  Gray morphed the metal of his shield, giving himself a sword while shrinking the shield he already had to ensure he could defend himself while fighting.  Hera used her own Semblance and stretched her arms out to punch Lord Tenebris in the gut, causing him to lose his balance.  Gray saw this window and rushed in for a quick attack, slashing the armor that protected Lord Tenebris.  In that moment, Hera launched herself toward Lord Tenebris, and like a spring, coiled her arm and landed a powerful punch on his mask.  The mask cracked, but remained intact for the most part.  Ozpin quickly started to run back into the fray, as did everybody else, trying to capitalize on the opening that Hera and Gray had created.  But the moment that they all got too close, Lord Tenebris was suddenly engulfed in a black aura blaze, which burned almost across the entire width of the valley.  Everybody was knocked down, and they all struggled to get up.  Ozpin tried to use his cane as a support, but Lord Tenebris, still covered in an aura burn, but not burning as powerful as it did a second ago, kicked the cane away from him causing Ozpin to collapse on the ground.  He then grabbed the Relic off of Ozpin’s belt, and walked over to where Gray was laying, fighting for consciousness.  
            “Pathetic” Lord Tenebris said as he raised the Relic to strike.  “You were never meant to exist in the first place.”  In that moment, Jacob managed to get enough strength to stand back up and activate his time dilation.  He started to run towards Gray, drawing his blade at the same time.  The scythe continued to descend slowly, but Jacob managed to get there in time to use his blade to block the attack.  There was a powerful clang as the blades collided, but in that moment, Jacob’s time dilation ended, and Lord Tenebris was clearly getting more agitated. Without saying a word, Lord Tenebris pulled back the scythe to attack again, and Jacob thought he had an opening to take Lord Tenebris down.  However, when he tried to run Tenebris through, the blade bounced off the aura burn, and Jacob was left wide open.  The recoil from the blade hitting the aura burn caused him to stumble backwards a few paces, but it left him wide open as Lord Tenebris sliced the Relic right across Jacob’s chest.  In that moment, Jacob screamed in pain like no living thing had ever screamed before.  He fell to the ground, clutching his chest, unable to quiet the sounds of his pain.  Lord Tenebris stepped on his chest and scoffed.  He leaned over, placing the tip of the scythe on Jacobs chest and said,  
            “How pathetic.  You think _you_ are in pain?  Your pain now is nothing compared to all that I have had to endure.”  Having said that, Lord Tenebris slowly pushed the blade into Jacob’s chest, causing him to scream even more.  As he pulled the blade out, Jacob passed out, the pain was too much.  Lord Tenebris turned his attention back to Gray, but at that moment, an airship flew overhead, kicking up all the loose dirt and sending it flying.  Ropes then descended from the open doors of the airship, and the Order soldiers ran over and grabbed them and started making their way up.  Lord Tenebris was shouting something at the airship, but Gray couldn’t make out what he was saying.  After a few moments of shouting, Lord Tenebris simply stomped over to the rope and ascended to the airship.  After he was aborard, the airship took off, leaving everybody to recover and see the aftermath.  
            “Is everybody okay?” Ruby asked as she tried to regain her bearings.  
            “All good on my end” Evan said as he brushed the dirt off of his body.  “But they got the Relic.”  
            “What should we do now?” Yang said as she fixed a few loose bolts on her robot arm.  But instead of answering any of them, Ozpin immediately ran over to where Jacob was lying unconscious.  Everybody then finally saw what had happened to him and rushed over to his side.  
            “What happened?” Brooklyn asked, her breathing becoming much more erratic.  
            “He’s been stabbed by the Relic” Ozpin said as he started preparing magical incantations.”

“That kind of spell will only work for so long brother” Salem said walking over to him.  “You may not even have enough power to get yourselves home at this rate.”  
            “It will have to do until the healers get to our location” Ozpin said as he turned his attention to the spell.  
            “What do we do?” Gray said as he ran his hands through his hair, trying not to freak out more than he already was.  
            “Yang!” Ozpin yelled as he continued to pour magical energy into Jacob.  “Fire a flare!  Let our friends know where we are!  Ms. Watson!  How much aura do you have left?”  
            “Enough for maybe a few miles, why?”  
            “Get Christy or Bovia!  We need a healer to keep Jacob alive!”  
            “Got it!”  
            “I will have a Nevermore guide you to where they are” Salem said.  “The flare will help guide them to us, I will guide you to them.”  Aurora nodded her head, and ran off following a nearby Nevermore that flew in from a nearby mountain.  After she left, everybody huddled around Ozpin and Jacob.  
            “What can we do Professor?” Brooklyn asked as she knelt down beside him.  
            “If I’m being perfectly honest here?” Ozpin said starting to get short of breath.  “Pray.”


	26. Episode 2: Chapter 7: Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons.

Natalie, Miles, Christy, Ty, Blake and Team BEAT were slowly trudging along continuing to make headway towards where the flare had been fired.  The damage and fatigue from the battle was starting to set in for everybody.  
            “I swear,” Ty said as he rotated his arm for the millionth time, “one of those stupid soldiers made me dislocate my shoulder.”  Christy exhaled in annoyance as he said this.  
            “Ty, for the millionth time, let your own aura heal you up!  I’m running on fumes as it is!”  
            “Why don’t we use your abilities to help regenerate our own aura’s Bovia?” Ember said sliding up next to her.  “You’ve done it in the past, it’s fixed us all up right quick.”  
            “That was when we were surrounded by water Ember” Bovia said as she pulled out her water containers.  “When it comes to me regenerating aura for other people, I have to use not just a substantial portion of my own aura, but I have to constantly absorb water in order to make sure I don’t shrivel up and die.  And I have barely left of my reserves to even partially heal one of us.”  
            “Regardless,” Miles said as he moved a boulder out of the way with his Semblance, “Aura can regenerate overtime.  We shouldn’t worry about our problems right now.  Instead we should…..” Before Miles could finish, Aurora appeared as if out of nowhere, stopping right in front of them.  
            “Aurora?” Blake said with surprise.  “What are you….”  
            “No time!” Aurora said as she quickly moved over and grabbed Christy’s wrist.  “Professor!  I need you to hold on!”  
            “What?”  Before Christy or anybody else could process what was going on, Aurora had already run off, dragging Christy with her.  Seconds later, she re-appeared, grabbed Bovia, and disappeared again.  
            “Wjhat just happened?” Arri said as she tried to fan the dust that Aurora kicked up out of her face.  
            “If my daughter just ran up to us like the world was about to end,” Blake said as she started running towards where Aurora ran off to, “it’s a safe bet that something terrible has happened.”  Everybody picked up the pace and ran to reach where everybody else was.  They reached the edge of the crater, and were shocked when they saw the scene that lay before them.  Jacob was lying in the middle of the crater, surrounded by magical signs and symbols, with Christy pouring aura into Jacob’s body while Bovia tried to keep Christy’s aura levels up with her water’s regenerative powers.  Everybody quickly ran down the side of the crater and joined everybody else.  
            “Mom!  Gray!” Ember yelled as she ran up to them.  “What happened?”  
            “Mr. Strohl was harmed by the Relic of Death.”  
            “What?!” Miles yelled as he and Blake ran over to Aurora.  “How did this happen?!”  
            “And not to sound like I’m being cynical or anything,” Ty said as he joined the rest of his old team by Jacob’s body, “but given how you described this thing to us, how the heck is he not dead?!”  
            “My best guess,” Salem said speaking through Hera’s body, “is that the blade was used in a slow, precise way, more like slowly cutting a fruit.  Perhaps the relic responds not only to striking an opponent, but how it strikes the opponent.”         
            “We can debate how and why the gods created a relic with so many different rules later!” Ozpin yelled as he grabbed his cane.  Everything is ready!  We only have moments once I stop casting this spell on his body.”  
            “What can we do to help?” Arri asked as she walked over to where Bovia was trying to help keep Christy’s aura levels up.  
            “Get inside the circle!” Ozpin yelled motioning towards everybody.  “I am going to send us all back to the light dimension, and attempt to continue Jacob’s treatment there.  But we must be quick!  I don’t know if Ms. Curtiss’ aura can keep Jacob alive long enough for me to resume, even with Ms. Brown’s regenerative abilities helping.”  
            “Let me cast the spell Ozpin” Salem said placing her hand on his shoulder.  “I can send you all back safely.”  
            “Excuse me,” Ruby said stepping towards the two of them, “but wouldn’t that mean that you would be leaving this body in this dimension as well?  If you could have casted a spell that allowed you specifically to return to this world, you would have done it eons ago.”

            “Well for your information….” Salem was about to go off, but then Hera cut her off yelling,  
            “We don’t have time for this!  We need to get back home now”  
            “Hera is right” Ozpin said, now sweating a great deal.  “The magic won’t hold forever in this state, and we need more than just myself and Ms. Curtiss here.  Please, everybody get in the circle.”  Everybody quickly did so, and held their breath, as Ozpin pulled back his magical powers from Jacob, and channeled it into his cane.  He took one quick look at Hera, and simply said the words,  
            “Teach her sister.”  With that, Ozpin struck the ground with his cane, and in a flash, the space changed from the dark realm to Ozpin’s office.  Ozpin almost collapsed, but quickly recovered and diverted all of his energy into Jacob.  
            “Is he….?” Ozpin asked with a weak voice.  
            “It drained a lot of aura out of me,” Christy said coughing a little bit, “but he’s still with us.”  
            “I’m out of water though” Bovia said.  “I’m running off my body’s natural water supply.  I can’t keep this up for long.”  
            “Somebody call Beanie!” Brooklyn yelled.  Ember quickly pulled out her Scroll, while Terra smashed open a window that had a direct view of the falls off in the distance.  
            “Beanie!” Ember yelled into her Scroll.  “No time to explain!  I need you to come up to Ozpin’s office via a water spout!  Come up to the west side of the tower!  Don’t argue!  Just do it!  We’ll explain when you get here!” Ember hung up, and everybody anxiously held their breath.  
            “Someone….call Mr. Arc…..as well!” Ozpin gasped out.  Sora grabbed his scroll and stepped out of the room to give his father a call.  Meanwhile, Beanie and the water spout finally arrived.  He landed in the office, and realized what he was seeing.  
            “What happened to Jacob?” he asked trying to keep himself from going into shock.  
            “We’ll explain in a minute!” Arri said grabbing Beanie’s shoulder.  “Right now, you need to get as much water as you can directed at Bovia!  Make sure she can keep regenerating Professor Curtiss’ aura without killing herself!”  
            “On it!”  With that said, Beanie took the water he used to get up to the office and directed it at Bovia.  “This isn’t a lot of water professor,” Beanie said as he looked over the edge to see how much water he had to spare.  “And it won’t be easy for me to get more all the way up here.”  
            “Get some medical equipment,” Ozpin said as he continued to weave magical spells, “and prepare to carve out a large slab of the floor for transportation.  Mr. Watson, your Semblance will be needed to transport us all to the river to ensure that we can keep Mr. Strohl here alive for as long as possible.  Are you up for the task?”  
            “I’ll push myself to the limit if I have to” Miles said cracking his knuckles.  As soon as all the equipment was prepped and ready, everybody who needed to be there stood in a designated area where a circle was drawn on the floor.  As soon as that was done, Aurora ran several laps around the circle, cutting into the floor with her swords.  As soon as the floor had been cut deep enough, Miles lifted up the glass and moved one of the gears from the floor beneath them up to their level.  They then moved Jacob and everybody who was important at the moment onto the gear.  Miles then slowly but surely adjusted the pull of the gear so that it gently pulled them towards the river that flowed near Beacon itself.  While Miles’ abilities had improved over the years, this level of concentration was still difficult for him to pull off, and he started to cough up a little bit of blood.  Fortunately, he managed to get the gear safely placed next to the river, and Beanie was able to access even more water to help Bovia continue to regenerate Christy’s aura, which she was pouring every last drop she had within herself to try and keep Jacob from fading away.  Miles staggered a little bit and fell to the ground.  Everybody who wasn’t on the gear ran over from Beacon tower as fast as they could, Aurora being the first to arrive and helping her father get back on her feet.  
            “You holding up okay dad?” Aurora asked as she wiped some of the blood off of Miles’ face.  
            “Honestly,” Miles said with a cough, “at this point I’d take holding all of Amity Arena by myself again.”

            “I think we’d all prefer it if we could just go back to when we fought the bad guys and that was that” Evan said as he joined the group.  “How did the Order manage to get such an advantage on us to begin with?”

            “I’d love to talk logistics and things of that nature,” Ozpin said as he continued to pour even more magic into keeping Jacob alive, “but we have far more pressing matters right now.  Mr. Nikos, when do you suppose your father will be arriving?”

            “I just heard from my mom” Sora said as he walked over.  “They’re both on their way here right now.”

            “There is no need for your mother to be here” Ozpin said as he started to cough a little bit.  “She needs to be in Mistral helping make sure that the Order….”

            “Jacob is still family” Sora said firmly.  “And we need to be here.”

            “Okay,” Ty said as he sat down on the ground.  “We just got our butts handed to us, the Order has got Jacob hanging by a thread, and we are stuck without a plan because some of our best strategists are either dying or trying to keep them from dying.  What do we do?”

            “Professor,” Ruby said stepping forward, “is there anything we can do to help Jacob?”

            “In this moment right now child?  No.  However, I am willing to bet that the Relic of Life can be a key to saving Jacob from his current affliction.  However, even if I were available to help, I have no information about where to find the Relic.  But, if you all come together, I am sure you could solve the riddle.  You have my permission to use my personal library to try and find any information that may prove useful.”  Everybody kind of stood around, still shell-shocked by what they had gone through, before Natalie got up and walked into the center of the magic circle where Jacob was clearly still in a great deal of pain.  She placed her hand on his shoulder, and said,  
            “Don’t worry.  I won’t let you go there just yet.”  After that, she started walking towards Beacon tower.  Everybody else walked over to Jacob, and gave him their best and their promises of saving him from this fate.  As they left for the library, Jacob smiled, with a few tears in his eyes, and said,  
            “I’m…..not…..done yet."

 

 

            The pools of Grimm ooze bubbled and spat as the Order soldiers passed through them in their hazard suits.  The place where they had entered was remote enough that they were able to land their air fleet without being noticed by any of the four kingdoms.  As the team emerged and removed their suits, Tenebris was noticeably upset as he removed his suit.  
            “You constantly complained about how I did not have the strength to do what was needed” he yelled while marching towards Lord Imperia.  “I had the one that was never meant to exist in my clutches, ready to kill him as you had constantly chastised me about!  And you decide to pull me out of a situation that could have given us a major advantage in this war?!”  
            “First off,” Imperia said as she continued to remove her own suit, “it was Lord Sangui I believe who was constantly against you and your efforts.  And second, we still need Ozpin for the final phase of the plan.”  
            “I wasn’t going to kill Ozpin!  I was going to kill the betrayers!  Everyone who turned against me!  And you decided that it was time to retreat?”  
            “We had claimed our prizes.  We were victorious.  I believe that there can still be a greater role for them all to play in this coming war if they are all still alive.  Besides, killing them would have just angered them to the point of swearing vengeance upon you and stopping at nothing until you laid dead before them.  And we don’t need that kind of attention.  Not when we are so close to achieving our goals.”  
            “Speaking of which, what is the purpose of bringing this back?” Lord Tenebris motioned to the pod containing the body of Lord Mortem being escorted to the main airship.  “What purpose does this serve with the overall goal?”  
            “There are many moving pieces and parts of this magic that we do not fully understand just yet my friend” Lord imperia said placing her hand on Tenebris’ shoulder.  “I need you to trust me, like you have ever since I guided you to your true destiny.”  Lord Tenebris remained silent, and just boarded the airship without saying another word.  Lord Sangui walked over to Lord Imperia, his arms folded and concern across his face.  
            “If he is truly on our side my lord, why not tell him the whole truth about our goals?”  
            “Lord Tenebris still sees Lord Mortem as the primary piece of the Order that took Aequo away from him.  If we reveal our true agenda to him, I fear that may cause him to turn against us and destroy everything we have worked so hard to build.”  
            “If he is such a liability, why keep him around?”  
            “The truth behind his identity is a key weapon we can exploit when the time is right.  That is also why I do not wish for any of his family or friends to die until we are ready to begin the final phase.  The moment that the truth is revealed to them, so long as we play that card at the right time, they will crumble and fall.  That is when we shall make our move and attack.”  
            “As you wish my lord.  And what of the Relic of Life?”  
            “Continue to study the riddle we received from the Relic of Knowledge, but also take some of the data we managed to collect from the scans of the Dark Realm.  I believe within that lies a clue to our next objective.”  
            “As you wish my lord.”

 

 

            Team GASH made it back to their dorm rooms, each of them not really taking the time to properly put their weapons away.  
            “I’m going to sleep for years” Aurora said as she collapsed onto her bed.  
            “You might need a cannon in order to wake me up” Sora said as he floated up to his top bunk.  
            “I think I might just fall asleep and not even bother to wake up” Gray said as he covered his whole body with sheets.  Hera didn’t say a word as she just simply collapsed onto her bed and fell right asleep.  Within that moment, she was dreaming already, standing there in the Dark Realm, and Salem was standing there, her arms behind her back.  
            “Well,” Salem said with a sigh, “today could have gone better.”  
            “I don’t think today could have gone any worse” Hera said tossing her arms up in the air.  “We got beat real bad!  Jacob is on the brink of death, and now we have to deal with fighting the Order and saving him!”  
            “Indeed.  Which is why we need to begin training right away.”  
            “Training?  Where?  How?”  
            “In here.  This mindscape, while made of dreams, can still be used to teach your mind how to properly use the power that you have lying within you.  My power to be exact.”  
            “So you want to teach me how to use your own powers in the real world?  That seems a bit sketchy.”  
            “Have I not yet truly earned your trust after everything I’ve done for you?”  
            “You quite literally showed up in one of my dreams the other night, convinced the headmaster of my school to take us all on a perilous journey into another dimension, sort of hijacked my body for the duration, one of my oldest family friends is on the brink of death, and now you want me to learn how to use your powers in the real world that you couldn’t interact with before.”  
            “I assure you child, my intentions are to help you.  I cannot control or hijack you as you said in this world.  All I can do is help guide you to better protect your family.  I know I can’t make up for all of my mistakes, both old and new, but I can still make sure that my power is used for the greater good, which is better than when I had that kind of power.”  
            “I’m still skeptical about you.” Hera said as she gestured her eyes being on Salem.  Salem chuckled a little bit.  
            “I expect nothing less.”  With that, Salem waved her hands and the space they were in turned into a large arena.  Salem smiled and snapped her fingers saying,  
            “Let’s get started.”


	27. Episode 2: Chapter 8: Log

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 8 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons.

Natalie stretched her arms and yawned as she started to wake up having fallen asleep on one of the tables in Ozpin’s library.  Everybody except for the members of Team GASH had spent the entire night scouring through the library searching for clues as to how they might be able to help Jacob with his current affliction.  Almost everybody had either called it a night and fell asleep in chairs and on tables, others collapsed while reading, and a few managed to stay up the entire night.  Natalie looked around and saw that both Ty and Miles were still scouring through books trying to find an answer.  Meanwhile, Brooklyn and Ruby were starting to wake up and regain their balance.”

“What time is it?” Brooklyn asked as she rubbed her eyes.

“Sun’s just starting to come up” Ty said as he put another book down.  “And we’re still no closer to finding a solution.”  
            “Have you guys slept at all?” Ruby asked as she stumbled her way towards one of many coffee machines Ozpin kept in the library.  “You know Blake was really worried about you last night Miles.”  
            “I’ll sleep when we ensure that our friend out there can go to sleep and wake up again.  We need an answer.”  
            “We’ll do better if we have all of our wits about us” Ozpin said as he entered the library.  “And I think we can all agree, we could all use some sleep.”  
            “What are you doing here?” Brooklyn asked starting to get a little panicked, “Shouldn’t you be making sure that Jacob doesn’t die?  I thought you were a critical part of that process?!”  
            “I came up with a solution that not only can buy us some time, but also gives our friends who have given just about everything they have a chance to rest as well.  Christy, Bovia, Beanie and Jaune are all resting in my office while I look for a permanent answer to Jacob’s affliction.  While I haven’t stopped the power of decay that the Relic inflicted upon him, I did manage to cast a series of spells that slows its progress down immensely.  That combined with his own natural aura should be able to keep him alive for the time being.  But it isn’t a permanent solution.  Even if I were to cast the spell upon him repeatedly, it would still eventually eat its way through his body and kill him.”  
            “So what now?  Miles said as he flipped through another book.  “I can’t find anything in these books that would possibly give us any information about a big cure-everything pill.  Do we just press on and hope Jacob gets to live a long life before this thing consumes him?”

“There may be a solution after all” Ozpin said as he walked over to another bookshelf near where everybody else was still sleeping.  “I think I wrote about all of these back when I first discovered these relics eons ago.”  As he reached the bookshelf, he pulled four books off the shelf and then re-arranged them causing the bookshelf to swing open and reveal a passageway into what looked like an old chamber built before the school was constructed.  He then took his cane and activated a light within the handle and made his way into the chamber.  Everybody that was awake stood a bit shocked before slowly walking towards the secret passage.  However, before they could go down the passage, Ozpin reemerged with a large, old and weathered notebook.  He placed it on the table and started slowly and carefully turning through the pages.  
            “Not to be rude professor,” Natalie said leaning over his shoulder, “but I don’t think time is really on our side for this one.  What exactly is this thing anyways?”  
            “This is my old journal from the earliest days of my existence.  Once I had grown to a point where I realized my importance to this world, I took it upon myself to record everything of great importance.  Including my sister’s and my meeting with the gods of light and darkness.”  The room remained silent for a moment while Ozpin continued to search through the journal.  
            “I think we should wake everybody up for this” Ruby said as she made he way towards where everybody else was sleeping.

 

 

 

Lord Tenebris made his way to the central chamber of the main airship that was used primarily for training purposes.  He took off his helmet and pulled out his Scroll.  He activated fifteen training robots, each of them programed differently.  He surveyed each of the different robots, then selected the one that was programed with two swords.  The robot stepped forward, and took up a battle stance.  
            “READY FOR BATTLE.  FIRST MOVE GOES TO CONTROLLER” the robot said.  Nathan drew his sword, and prepared for battle.  He rushed forward, dragging his sword along the ground, causing energy to build within the sword.  Then, he brought it forward and sent out a powerful sound wave that knocked the robot back a short ways.  Nathan then leapt into the air and brought his blade down on the robot who blocked the attack by brining his blades together.  Nathan began to trade blows with the robot, each of them taking hits and returning them in kind.  Over the course of the battle, Nathan’s anger grew even more, resulting in his aura burn slowly growing more and more.  It was a powerful black flame, which slowly grew beyond Nathan’s body and began to engulf the robot, causing it to start melting.  The power of the flame caused the circuits within the robot to malfunction and cause it to stop working, but Nathan continued to bash the robot repeatedly with great rage.  As he finished destroying the robot, he heard a slow clap behind him.  Lord Sangui was standing there watching Nathan’s little tirade in silence.

“What are you doing here?” Nathan said with rage in his voice.  
            “Lord Imperia couldn’t reach you on your communicator.  She wants to have a strategy meeting on locating the Relic of Life.  Good to see that you are willing to destroy your enemies only when they are nothing more than nuts and bolts programed to fight like them” Sangui said as he walked towards Nathan.  Nathan collected himself and pointed his blade at Lord Sangui.  
            “I am more than willing to destroy my enemies.  All of those who betrayed me will feel my wrath.”  
            “You failed to make them feel your wrath back at Haven Academy, you failed to make them feel your wrath during the enemy’s attack on the base, and you failed in the dark realm when your former friends were literally at your feet just waiting to die.”  
            “I managed to at least get one of the betrayers before Lord Imperia pulled me out of there.”  
            “But you still fail to completely and utterly take a life.  Perhaps you still carry some small speck of remorse or caring for those who betrayed you so.”  Nathan then rushed towards Lord Sangui, his aura burn re-igniting.  Lord Sangui simply remained calm and created a clone in a split second to take the blow.  The clone took the hit and Nathan lost almost all of his momentum, allowing Lord Sangui to block the attack with little risk to himself.  His smile fell to that of anger and disgust.

            “All that I have ever done,” Nathan said as he tried to push through Lord Sangui’s defense, “is serve the Order faithfully.  And all you ever do is berate me!  What do you have against me?  Why do you question my loyalty?!”

            “That’s an interesting question Lord Tenebris” Sangui said as he began to buckle from the force of the attack.  Before his defense broke however, he took Nathan’s sword, twisted it out of his hands, tossed it to the side and kicked Nathan in the chest, knocking him to his back.  “Maybe it’s because you not only stood against the Order years ago, but perhaps also because you and your former teammates and family members killed soldiers and high-ranking leaders of the Order!”  The two of them fell silent.  Nathan slowly got up, and walked past Lord Sangui to pick up his helmet.  
            “I was just a child then” Nathan said as he put the helmet over his head.  “Besides, Lord Mortem’s actions were not in the vein of what we are trying to accomplish now.  We are trying to make this world a better place for everybody.  Lord Mortem was trying to make the world a better place for himself.  And for the longest time, I believed that following the path I was on would lead to a better world.  But Lord Imperia showed me the truth, and now I know what must be done in order for the world to become a better place.  And if those who I once called my family can’t see that reality, then I will fight for the Order until they see the light and realize that I am doing this for the good of everyone.”  With that, Lord Tenebris left the training room and made his way to the command deck.  Lord Sangui watched as Lord Tenebris left, and started laughing as soon as Tenebris was out of ear shot.  
            “How remarkable it is Lord Tenebris, what one will do and say in the name of their own greater good.”

 

 

 

            Ozpin continued to slowly turn the pages of the journal as everybody else slowly woke up.  Miles continued to pace back and forth while Ozpin took his time.  
            “I don’t think the Order is going to wait another twenty five years or so to attack us again Professor Ozpin.”  
            “This is a very old document Mr. Watson” Ozpin said with an annoyed tone.  “I have maintained this journal for longer than any living organism has existed on this planet.  And I have yet to record this into a new form of recording.  So until that time, I will make sure that this journal is kept in good condition and that nothing is lost.” Miles tossed his arms in the air in annoyance and continued pacing.  
            “Take a breath Miles” Blake said with a yawn.  “You should just get some sleep.  You’ve been up all night.”  
            “We need to find answers Blake!  I can’t rest until we find a way to save Jacob and why is the floor rushing up to greet me?”  Miles collapsed onto the floor and almost immediately started snoring.  Ty chuckled and picked him up off the floor.  
            “I’ll get him to a chair.  I’m probably not too far behind him actually.”  
            “Don’t worry about it” Evan said as he took a sip of coffee.  “Looks like this is going to be a while.”  Ozpin continued to pour over the journal, the clock continued to move forward.  After a while, he leapt out of his chair and let out a cheer.  
            “I’ve found it!” he said with great excitement.  “I finally found it!”  Everybody clamored around him and looked over the page that he was currently reading.  
            “What is it?” Yang asked as she tried to read the almost faded words on the page.  
            “This is the entry that I made when the gods arrived to visit me and Salem!  This is when they explained to me and my sister how the world was created, how everything worked in balance, and most importantly, the Relics and how they all worked in tandem with one another!”

            “So what does it say about Jacob’s affliction?” Ember asked looking over the document.  
            “If what the gods told me and my sister is correct, then it would seem that of the four relics, the Relics of Death and Life were meant to act in balance.  The Relic of Life to help ensure that death would not be the only absolute in this world, and the Relic of Death to ensure that life would not run rampant and consume everything.  But alone, their powers are truly impressive.  I knew the Relic of Death’s power well enough because it was left alone with my sister for centuries.  So I studied it carefully from all the old texts that I kept from back then.  But I hardly did any research on the Relic of Life, because I never thought I would have need to use it.  But now, with this document, it is clear that the key to saving Jacob lies in the Relic of Life.  It mentions here in this passage, how everything that the Relic touches can remove all form of decay and destruction to living beings.  So if we find the Relic, it stands to reason that we could manage to save Jacob.”  
            “Great!” Brooklyn said slamming her hand on the table.  “Where do we find it?”  
            “I’m not completely sure to be honest with you.  The gods were very vague about where they hid these two items specifically.  The Relic of Knowledge and the Relic of Connection they gave to us because we could use them without risk of harming others directly with them.  Plus, we had promised our father that this batch of humans would be the ones we let grow and evolve instead of wiping them out whenever we got angry or upset with them like he used to.  Like Salem did become for a time.”  
            “So we have no idea where it is?”  Arri said as she ran her fingers across the page that detailed the Relic of Light.  “How does this help us?”  
            “It doesn’t tell us exactly where it is,” Ozpin said as he turned the page, “but it can give us a clue as to where to look.  The gods didn’t like to speak in riddles so much as large and eloquent words.  They told me and my sister that if we ever needed the Relic of Life, all we had to do was go to the highest point in the world and find the source of life of the mountain at the bottom of the lake.”  
            “That still sounds like more riddle talk to me” Natalie said rolling her eyes.  
            “The gods were very literal.  They didn’t beat around the bush when it came to explaining things.  If the Relic of Life is truly hidden at the highest point of this world, then that means we should be able to find it if we look for the tallest mountain in Remnant, and from there if we find the source of the mountains water, then that’s probably where we will find the Relic of Life.”

            “Well what are we waiting for?” Brooklyn said walking towards the exit.  “Let’s get to work!  If we find all of the maps of Remnant with topographical information, then we can easily find the highest mountain and go from there!”  
            “I’ll reach out to Weiss and Ironwood” Ruby said heading towards the exit as well.  “Their technology will help us find not just the mountain, but also the source of the water of the mountain where we’ll likely find the Relic!”  As everybody left, Ozpin picked up the journal and walked back into the chamber that he took it from and locked it away.  He smiled as the door closed and walked out of the library.  He then made his way to the recovery room where Jacob was resting.  
            “That didn’t take long” Jacob joked as he saw Ozpin enter.  
            “We may have found the answer to saving your life” Ozpin said as he sat down next to Jacob.  “Everybody has started reaching out to our allies trying to find the answer.”  
            “Glad to hear it.  The longer we dawdle with this issue, the closer the Order comes to achieving victory.  I won’t let my sacrifice to save Gray’s life be the reason we lose this war.”  
            “You’ve got a good group of friends out there Jacob.  They all started looking for answers the moment we had you back in this dimension.  Heck, both Miles and Ty stayed up all night trying to find something in one of my books in my library.”  Jacob smiled a bit as Ozpin told him this information.

            “They really are a great group of friends.  I’m glad I ended up on the team that I did all those years ago.”

            “Indeed.  Get some rest.  I need to make sure we are ready to go once we find what we are looking for.  And beyond that, once you are healed, like everyone has said, the Order won’t wait forever.  We will need to prepare for whatever they have next.  Since you will not be mission ready for recovering the Relic, I was hoping you, General Ironwood and myself could go over some strategies for finding and destroying the Order once and for all.  Especially now that they have the Relic of Death, we need to come up with plans that will ensure our friends don’t suffer the way you have this past day.”  
            “Sounds good.  I’ll be ready.”  With that said, Ozpin got up to leave and Jacob continued to rest in his bed.

 

 

 

            Gray yawned and stretched his arms as the morning sun poured into the dorm room.  He got out of bed and saw the rest of his team slowly starting to wake up as well.  
            “Man,” Aurora said as she moved her hair out of her face, “I slept like a log last night.”  
            “And we still have classes and homework to do in the interim” Sora said as he just lay in his bed not wanting to get up.

            “I feel like Ozpin should give us a pass on any and all assignments for the rest of the year if not for everything we’ve done to help in this war so far, but for yesterday alone.  That should be more than enough to let us skip homework for at the very least the rest of the semester.”

            “Pretty optimistic that you think that the war is going to be over by the end of the semester” Aurora said as she grabbed a change of clothes and a shower caddy for the dorm showers.

            “Heck, so long as it ends before we graduate I’ll take it” Sora said as he grabbed his Scroll to check his morning messages.  “The fact that it’s lasted as long as it has is a bit concerning.  When our parents fought the order, it lasted about a week.  But I’m not sure if there is an end in sight for this conflict.  At least not really.”  As Sora said this, Hera slowly got out of bed.

            “Well look who’s finally up!” Aurora said with a chuckle.  “I’m headed to the showers Hera.  You want to go at the same time or after I’m done?”  Hera simply grabbed her shower caddy and walked past Aurora as if she didn’t even hear her.

            “Ugh,” Hera said pinching her forehead in annoyance, “you didn’t mention that all that training would drain me in the real world also!”  Everybody stared in confusion as Hera just walked out the door and continued talking to herself.  “I know it’s important!  That doesn’t mean I don’t need sleep!  Also what’s the point of all this if it results in my body being completely exhausted?!”

            “Does anybody else know what’s going on with Hera?” Gray asked tilting his head in confusion.

            “If I did, I’d tell you in a heartbeat” Sora said scratching his head while grabbing his own change of clothes.  “But if I had to guess, I think we might now have an honorary fifth member of Team GASH.”

            “Why does everything have to go completely off the rails the minute we were old enough to start school?” Aurora said with an exasperated sigh.


	28. Episode 2: Chapter 9: Final Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons

Miles awoke with a start.  He gathered his bearings and realized that he was lying on one of the couches in Ozpin’s library.  The sun was pouring in from one of the nearby windows, and it was clear that it was getting to be late in the afternoon.  He got up slowly and yawned while looking to see if anybody else was there.  There was no one else there, so he just sat back down on the couch, and rubbed his forehead, wincing a bit as he rubbed a fresh bruise on his forehead.  
            “What the flip happened to me?”  
            “Look who’s finally awake” a new voice echoed through the room.  Miles looked around and saw Blake walking out from the shadows of the library with a pot of tea and some cups on a tray.  She placed the tray on a nearby table and started pouring a pair of drinks.  “You’ve been out almost all day.  I’m honestly surprised that you woke up at all.”

            “What did I miss?  Last thing I remember Ozpin was taking his time reading his old diary or something.”  
            “That did happen” Blake said as she handed Miles his cup.  “After you passed out, Ty took you out so you could sleep.  Not long after that, Ozpin found what we have been looking for.  The key to saving Jacob.”  
            “Really?!”  Miles said almost jumping out of his seat with excitement.  “What is it?  How soon can we get it to him?”  
            “Settle down.  We found what we need, but we still need to find it.  According to Ozpin’s journal, we are looking for the Relic of Life somewhere in one of Remnant’s mountains.  Everybody at the top is coordinating with all our available technology in order to find where it might be hiding.”  
            “Good to hear” Miles said taking a sip of his tea.  “And how’s Jacob doing?”  
            “Still stable like Ozpin told us.  He isn’t doing much outside of resting, but he and Ozpin are working with General Ironwood to talk about strategies for once we do find the Relic and how we can fight the Order.”  
            “Well, there’s not many other people that we know that are as strategic as him.  At least he’s able to keep himself busy.  What about Christy, Jaune and Bovia?”  
            “They’re resting last I heard.  Even though they were constantly having Aura poured into them, that still took a huge toll out of them physically and emotionally.”  
            “No kidding.  Plus the fact that they had to deal with that just after we got out of the Dark Realm.  Not a good time.”  
            “You said it.  It’s good that we have this chance to rest.  I know we had a few weeks between this most recent mission and the battle in Atlas, but after yesterday, it feels like it’s been months since we had a chance to breathe.”  
            “Agreed.  And given the fact that now the Order has arguably the most dangerous Relic in their possession, I doubt that we will have a chance to rest like this again until this war is over.”  
            “I just hope it does end.  The fact that especially now with the conflict dragging out for as long as it has, it almost feels like the Order has an endless supply of soldiers ready and waiting to fight at the drop of a hat.  No matter how badly we beat them back, it feels like there’s still more of them waiting for us at the next battle.”  
            “Remnant is a pretty big place Miles.  And I can tell you from experience, especially during my White Fang days, some people will do anything for money, others will do anything for what they believe is right.”  
            “But that’s what bugs me the most.  What does the Order want exactly?  World domination?  Not exactly a super great motivation if your side wins but you aren’t the one at the top of the food chain.”  
            “Adam was fluent in making people hang off every word he said when I worked with him.  Even if his endgame was to rule the world with him as the king of it all, he still convinced people that they would be better off serving under his rule where they would have power over those under his thumb than they would simply continuing on as they were currently with their current overlords.  All it takes is one moment for a manipulator to convince somebody that they will become more through serving them rather than if they simply continue to serve whatever else it is that they already do.  I had a good friend, Ilia Amitola, who was a good hearted person.  You would have been hard to find someone other than a Belladonna on the entirety of Menagerie who cared more about her fellow Faunus than Ilia.  But, there were a lot of moments where she got hit hard with problems.  Be it having to deal with racist humans, or having been attacked by bandits during supply runs.  It took a toll on her emotionally.  But the thing that broke her the most was losing her parents.  They died in a Dust mining accident.  That was when Adam struck.  He promised her no more suffering and pain.  He promised her a world where she could be happy sooner rather than later.  He promised her a world where she would be accepted and loved and not ridiculed and hated.  Ilia was not somebody who held hate within her heart, but after having so much happen to her, she ended up succumbing to Adam’s temptations.  When I left the White Fang, she and I fought several times, especially after the Cinder Fall incident and the White Fang grew even more aggressive.”  
            “Did she ever serve the Order?”  
            “No, not as far as she told me.  I actually managed to get her to leave the White Fang during one of our fights.  Adam had gotten bold and decided to attack my house back home, and it just so happened I was visiting for spring break.  Things got crazy, there was a big fire, and we ended up fighting on the roof since the fire actually burned a hole in the ceiling.  Things got bad, and when the fire crew arrived, Adam panicked and started attacking them for no reason.  This combined with so many other issues that had started to catch her eye, she finally broke down and realized what she had done.”  
            “What happened to her?”  
            “She turned herself in to the local police, and served her time by doing community work.  After serving her sentence, she actually took a job with the combat school on Menagerie and started teaching students how to fight.  It’s been good for her.  She found a way to give back and make up for her past mistakes.”  
            “I’d imagine that Adam wasn’t super happy about losing somebody that could have been a potential asset for the Order.”  
            “Adam had new lieutenants just about every other week.  That’s probably how the Order got so much Faunus support on their side.  Adam recruited them under the guise of serving the White Fang, he tested them and sees what they are capable of, and then when he was sure of their loyalty, he brought them into the fold.”

            “You mean like that guy who was working with Adam when we first met?  What was his name again?”

“I think it was Leo Odi or something like that?”  
“What was his deal?  Did you ever work with him before leaving the White Fang?”

“No, he must have joined either just before or after I left.  Honestly, he seemed a bit off.  Like he was there for the thrill of it rather than for any real motivation.”  
            “Did he actually do much when we fought him?”  
            “I can’t remember.”  They both sat their in confused silence, then a knock on the door snapped them out of it as Aurora walked in.  
            “Is he awake yet?” she asked as she approached them.  
            “At long last it seems like” Miles said as he got up to give his daughter a hug.  Aurora chuckled a little bit.  
            “All those years of you chastising me for sleeping in super late, and here you are sleeping until almost the end of the day!”  Blake chuckled at this as well, while Miles rolled his eyes.  
            “Well if I didn’t,” Miles said with a smirk on his face, “then your semblance would have probably turned out to be the power of super sleep!”  
            “That sounds pretty nice right about now” Blake said with a yawn.  “I’ve been bouncing back and forth between helping around campus and checking in on you to make sure that you were still doing okay.”  
            “Did you bring in a pot of tea every single time you did so?”  
            “Maybe?”  They all laughed a bit and sat down and just took a breath.  
            “Has anybody heard from Daniel lately?”  Miles said with a slightly worried look.  “We kind of took off and didn’t give him much word.”  
            “I’ve been talking with him” Aurora said pulling out her Scroll.  “He’s been doing good, still working hard at that art school on Menagerie.  He said that his work might actually give him a ride to a really big art school in a town just a few hours from Mistral.  He keeps making sure you two are still all right, and that he misses us.”  
            “That’s good to hear” Blake said with a smile.  She then leaned in on Miles’ shoulder.  “We should give him a call tonight, just check in on him.”  
            “I like the sound of that” he said putting his arm around her shoulder.  The three of them continued to just sit there, enjoying the quiet they had together.  After some time however, Miles got up and headed for the door, sending out messages on his Scroll.  
            “What’s going on Miles?” Blake asked as she stood and gave Aurora a hand getting up.  
            “There’s something I want to talk with people about.  Mostly people from our class.  Can you message Yang and Ruby?  Also, do you have Ember’s number?  I want her here for this as well.”

 

 

 

 

            Christy sat in her office, staring out the window, disregarding the papers that her students had turned in to her for her class earlier that day.  She hadn’t had a chance to relax like this in a long time.  And even now, she still felt like she couldn’t relax.  She put the papers aside and pulled out a large blanket and some crocheting needles. She then grabbed a large ball of wool and started to knit the blanket even further.  Just as she started, there was a knock on her door.  
            “Who is it?”

            “It’s Ty.  Can I come in?”

            “Door’s unlocked, go right ahead.”  Ty opened the door and stepped into the office.  
            “Ozpin’s looking for you.  He needs your help with some bookkeeping stuff related to Beacon.”  Christy let out a huge groan and leaned back in her chair at this news.  
            “We’ve been so swamped with this war and the fact that Ozpin insists that we still continue having classes for students I’m going to be having to deal with paperwork for the next three years just to catch up!”  
            “Why do you think I just stuck with the simple Huntsman life?”  
            “Don’t you still have to file paperwork to keep you Huntsman license as well as fill out your tax forms?”  
            “Well the license is once every four years, and the taxes are once a year.  From what you’ve described to me about your job even before this all started, it sounds like it’s just nothing but a giant wall of paperwork.”  
            “You’re not wrong there” Christy said putting her blanket off to the side.  “The only reason I’m still in decent fighting shape is because of the rare times that the combat teachers will ask me to take part in classes or my stealth lessons involve fighting and other physical activity.  Outside of that, I’ve built time into my days to just go out and get some exercise from time to time.”  
            “It looks like you’ve got some other projects on your plate apart from papers and exercise” Ty said pointing at the blanket that Christy had set aside.  Christy felt a little embarrassed and slid the blanket a bit further away.  “I don’t care,” Ty said with a smile on his face, “I just find it interesting.  You didn’t really seem like the type.”  
            “Really?”  
            “I fight monsters for a living and you teach kids how to fight those monsters.  Our lives aren’t exactly big outlets for arts and crafts.”  
            “Fair enough.  I started doing it a few years after I started teaching here.  It started with simple designs and patterns, just basic learning projects.  Over the past few years, I’ve done some bigger projects.  It’s been a good way for me to relax.  I’ve wanted to do some nice presents for Non-Descript Winter Holiday, like maybe some blankets for everybody and their families.  But everything fell apart when Nathan….” Both of them fell silent as soon as Nathan was brought up.  Christy picked up the blanket and looked at all the stitches and loops within it.  “Why do you think he left us?”  
            “What do you mean?”  
            “He was always the one with the biggest heart out of all of us.  He seemed like the one who would always have our backs whenever we needed him.  Then suddenly one day, as if like magic, he abandoned all of us.  His friends, his family.  All in the name of one specific piece of his past.  What do you think compelled him to do what he did?”

            “If we knew the answer to that, we wouldn’t be asking that question.  All we can do now is try to avenge him and make the Order pay for taking him from us.”

            “I suppose you’re right.  But there are a few other things that I have questions about.  Things that I’ve seen that have left me with some questions.”  
            “Like what?”  Before Christy could answer Ty’s question, both their Scroll’s buzzed.  Christy pulled hers out and checked her messages.  
            “It’s Miles.  He wants us to all meet in the courtyard.”  
            “What to you think he wants?”  
            “He didn’t specify.  I guess we’ll find out in a few minutes.”

 

 

 

            Jacob continued to look over the folders that Ozpin and Ironwood had sent him to look over.  He poured through each one like he was back in his academy years studying for exams.  As he continued his work, there was a buzz from his door.  He grabbed the speaker and pressed the talk button.  
            “Yes?”

            “Hey Jacob!” Natalie’s chipper voice came through the speaker.  “I brought a few friends with me!  Mind if we come in?”  
            “Not at all” Jacob said as he pressed the button to let his friends in.  “Door’s open.”  With that, Natalie, Evan, Brooklyn, and Evan all walked in.  There were hugs and smiles, and some food as well.

            “It isn’t much,” Evan said handing Jacob a wrapped sandwich, “just some of the food they had in the medical wing’s cafeteria.”  
            “Honestly,” Jacob said as he happily unwrapped the sandwich, “just about any food in particular sounds absolutely amazing right now.”  He munched on the sandwich while Brooklyn grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with water.  As she brought it back, Jacob was already through half of his sandwich.  
            “How does it feel?” she asked pointing at his chest.  Jacob sighed, pulled back his scrubs, and showed the wound.  It was horrifying to see.  Around his chest where the blade penetrated his chest, his skin had turned as black as the Grimm.  It had consumed the skin and had veiny lines stretching out from the center as if it was trying to spread across his entire body.  
            “Does it hurt?” Natalie asked reaching her hand out to almost touch it.  
            “It did the moment it happened” Jacob said as he covered his wound back up.  “And honestly, it still hurt a ton when Ozpin and the others tried to keep it from completely consuming me.  Once Ozpin found a way to slow it down to almost a stop, it stopped hurting as much as it did.  It still feels strange.  Like that entire part of my body is just dead weight.  Even when the doctors touch it with needles and things like that, I can’t feel a single thing.  Not even the pressure of them placing the needles in me.”  
            “Not sure how good needles are going to do you now” Brooklyn said as she sat down in a nearby chair.  “If what Ozpin said about that Relic is true, then for all intents and purposes that part of your body is literally dead.  There’s nothing we can do about it.”  
            “True” Jacob said as he placed his hand over his heart.  “I’m extremely lucky that it didn’t reach any of my important organs before Ozpin noticed what had happened to me.”

            “Did Ozpin have any kind of estimate about how long you might have before his remedy doesn’t work for you anymore?” Evan asked as he sat down next to Jacob’s bed.  
            “Not even he knows” Jacob said as he pulled up the files he was working on.  “But we do have a solution, so all I have to do is hope that we find the Relic of Life before that remedy does wear off.”  
            “Are you working on finding the Relic right now?” Natalie asked walking over to see what Jacob was working on.  
            “No, I’m working on strategies to fight against the Order.  Between Haven and our recent battle in the Dark Realm, that’s two losses too many that we’ve had to suffer.  I’m trying to come up with a plan that could lead us to defeating the Order once and for all.  If I can study their battle tactics, then perhaps I can find a weakness we can exploit.  And beyond that, there may be a way for us to track them back to where they’re hiding and destroy them once and for all!”  
            “How would we do that?” Evan asked as he looked at some of the files.  “We managed to find the Order in Vacuo because they were using an old temple that Ozpin built way back when.  But now, they’re practically always mobile.  And tracking devices are almost impossible to place on airships since anyone with a brain in this situation would know to have the computer do a quick shock across the ship in order to fry any tracking devices placed on it.”  
            “Which is precisely why I plan on using a new tracking machine that Weiss and her tech team developed in Atlas” Jacob said as he pulled out a tiny little metal ball that was no bigger than a marble.  “This here is the newest spy droid, the Atlas 100619 Espionage Spider Droid, or Sneaky Spider as the techs call it.”  With a push of the little red button on the droid, the machine sprung to life, sprouting eight tiny legs and walking up from Jacob’s hand to his shoulder.  
            “That’s so cool!” Natalie said wide-eyed.

            “It really is” Jacob said with a smile as he picked up the droid and offered it to Natalie so she could look at it, which she happily accepted.

            “That’s cool and all,” Evan said watching Natalie play with the droid, “but how will it even reach the Order’s main ships?  We’d have to place that thing on a person or hope that the Order’s airships actually touch down in order for that thing to get on board?  And how would it survive the electrical charge that is meant to fry spy droids like this one?”

            “A good question.  They actually came up with some clever ideas for that.  Natalie, if you wouldn’t mind holding the droid in the palm of your hand?”  Natalie obliged wit Jacob’s request, and held her palm flat for the droid to stand on.  Then, with a push of a button from Jacob’s Scroll, the droid leapt off Natalie’s hand, and before it hit the ground, the arms suddenly changed their shape and started spinning, causing the droid to fly right to Evan and land right in front of him.  
            “The droid is built with enough power to fly and keep up with most airships in the Atlas fleet.  It also has enough grip strength to make sure they won’t fall off even if airships go at max speed.  And in terms of the charge that airships use in order to make sure they aren’t being tracked, this little guy is actually built with a state-of-the-art operating system.  The entire processing system of the machine is built with a rubber interior and core.  Sort of like a skin, covering all of the important electrical components, ensuring that any electric charge it receives from any outside source does not affect the droid nor its mission.”  
            “Pretty impressive” Brooklyn said with a smile.  “Pretty surprising we haven’t come up with this kind of technology before now.”  
            “Progress comes in many different shapes and forms” Jacob said as he recalled the droid to shut it down.  “We haven’t had a need for something like this until today.  Besides, if we create something like this first, then the enemy will soon get their hands on similar technology, resulting in both sides reaching a struggle back and forth to stay ahead.  But since we have created this technology first, if we use it right, then we could potentially end the war much faster than previously anticipated.”

            “How good is it against hacks from other users?” Natalie asked.  “Like what happened during the Cinder Fall incident and when we had to fight them in the Battle of Vytal?”

            “It runs on the same form of technology that the Atlas military runs, so the only way to access it is with the proper Atlas credentials, or if you use the medals we received from Ozpin for the Battle of Vytal.  However, since it is a newer technology, it isn’t linked with the rest of the Atlas network just yet.”  
            “I completely forgot that those medals that Ozpin gave us allowed us so much access” Brooklyn said as she pulled hers out of her wallet.  “They’ve been so useless just about everywhere else, they don’t do us much good outside of Atlas or Vale.”  
            “That is pretty dumb,” Evan said as he pulled out his medal as well.  “I’ve only used this thing once, and it was to get into General Ironwood’s office because he had some information for me years back and he had left it in his office and was off doing something in Vacuo.  That was a time and a half I’d rather forget.”  Everybody chuckled a little bit, then their Scrolls buzzed.  
            “What is it?” Jacob asked leaning forward.

            “Miles wants to meet with us in the courtyard” Natalie said as she got up to leave.  “He didn’t say why.”

            “That does seem like a Miles thing to do” Jacob said with a chuckle.  “Thanks for coming by and visiting.”  
            “Of course” Brooklyn said with a smile.  “Happy to.”  With that, the three of them took their leave, and Jacob returned to the task that lay before him.

 

 

 

            Miles and Blake were standing in the courtyard as the sun started to set, and a cool breeze had started to set in.  Miles checked the time again, starting to tap his foot.  
            “Patience Miles” Blake said with a sigh.  “Not everybody moves as fast as our daughter.”  
            “I know.  It’s just a bit annoying when people don’t arrive at the given time for certain events.”  
            “Not all of us are as much of a stickler for time as you are” Christy said as she and Ty joined them in the courtyard.  “Plus, you didn’t say it was urgent or anything like that, so we took our time.”  
            “And some of us were busy visiting those who can’t even leave their own room” Brooklyn said as she, Evan and Natalie joined them.  
            “How is Jacob doing?” Blake asked with a hint of worry in her voice.  
            “He’s hanging in there” Natalie said with a sigh.  “The sooner we find this Relic, the better.”  
            “How’s that going by the way?” Ty asked folding his arms.  
            “They’re getting closer” Yang’s voice cut in as she and Ember joined the group.  “Ruby won’t be joining us, she’s busy with finding the mountain where the Relic is.”  
            “Fair enough” Miles said stepping forward.  “Now then, for the reason that I asked you all to be here this evening.”

            “Did something happen that we don’t know about or anything like that?” Evan asked.

            “No, this is more speculation than anything else” Miles said as he put his hand to his chin.  “There have been several instances that have caught my attention during our encounters with the Order, especially with the one that they call Lord Tenebris.”’

            “What about him?” Ember asked.  “He’s just another jerk who serves the Order who we all happen to have some kind of vendetta against.”  
            “That’s exactly it.  For one reason or another, this Tenebris guy seems to have it out for all of us in particular.  Alongside that, there seems to be something about the way he speaks about us.  He has short nicknames for each of us that is directly related to something about each of us.”  
            “How do you mean?” Natalie asked starting to grow concerned.  
            “Well, he refers to Ember as the “pretender”, he refers to all of us who grew up in Aequo as “betrayers”, and a few others that I can’t remember off the top of my head.”  
            “We already know that he has ties to Aequo” Ty said with confusion.  “This isn’t new, so what are you getting at?”  
            “But it isn’t just Aequo.  All of his titles for us are in direct reference to different parts of our past.  Some of them things that we have only ever told each other.  Ember, he seemed to know a lot about that necklace that he stole from you back in Vacuo.”  At this moment, Yang started slowly walking towards Miles, her anger rising and her burn growing.

            “What are you implying Miles?”  
            “Like I said earlier, this is all just speculation right now.  But between this guys Semblance and the fact that he knows specifically all of us this well, it’s hard to ignore that this might be something in the realm of possibility.”

            “You can’t be serious” Ember said, her voice starting to shake.  “You’re lying!”

            “I want him back more than anybody else here Miles” Yang said trying to fight back tears.  “But if you honestly think my DECEASED husband is capable of the things that Lord Tenebris has done, than maybe he was right about you not really being his friend.”

            “So you’re just going to completely ignore everything he did leading up to his supposed death then?” Miles said as he felt Yang’s aura burn growing stronger and stronger.  
            “Just because he lost sight of what he wanted to accomplish doesn’t mean that he would go as far as what Tenebris has done!  It also doesn’t make any sense!  The Order destroyed Aequo!  Why would he want to join the group that destroyed his home?!”

            “Yang brings up a point” Ty said as he walked over and moved Yang away from Miles.  “Even in the past few years, no matter how bad Nathan got, he was still driven by his desire to avenge your old home.  He had a clear goal in mind.  Why do you think he would suddenly pull a one-eighty and join them?  It makes no sense!”  
            “But do you really think it’s outside the realm of possibility?” Christy said stepping forward.  “I heard how Tenebris was talking to Ember back in Vacuo.  I remember what he said about so many of us during the battles. We can’t rule it out as a possibility.”

            “So that’s it?” Evan yelled back.  “Nathan went from our friend and brother to member of the Order at the drop of a hat?!”

            “This isn’t an absolute we’re talking about!” Blake yelled back.  “We are just asking what if?  How do we move forward from here?  If Tenebris really is Nathan, what do we do about it?”

            “We aren’t going to do anything in that regard!” Brooklyn also yelled.  “Because this is ridiculous!  Nathan fought beside us against the Order!  And yes, he did end up going down a path we didn’t agree with him on, but that path was still in the name of destroying the Order!  Why would Nathan commit himself to destroying the Order if he’s just going to up and join them at the end of it all?!”

            “Enough!” Natalie yelled, getting everybody to quiet down.  They all turned and looked right at Natalie.  She almost turned invisible in that moment, but remained fully there.  “I’ll admit, my brother went down a dark path before this all started.  I’m not fully sure myself why he started to go down the road that he did.  But I know this.  During that last mission that I went with him on in Vacuo, there was a lot happening.  My memories of that day are still fragmented, but I do have one strong memory.  The two of us surrounded by Order soldiers, and we were fighting them together.  In his final moments, Nathan still stood against the Order.  And I believe that is what happened.  There has to be another angle on this Lord Tenebris guy.  Maybe they got a hold of Nathan’s memories before he died and made Tenebris the guy who knew all about us to try and get into our heads.  We aren’t going to beat them by fighting amongst ourselves about something like this.  We are going to beat them by ensuring that we finish what Nathan started, and destroy the Order once and for all.”  Everybody remained silent after Natalie said this, and just stood there, still reeling from the conversation they had just had.  Miles sat down on the ground, trying to fight back tears.

            “I’m sorry everyone.  This was not the time to bring this up.  And even then, this is just some random theory going through my head.  Besides, Jacob is more important right now than anything else.  And here I am dragging all of you out here just to listen to my ravings about something that I know can’t be possible.  What was I thinking?”  Yang got down on one knee and hugged Miles.

            “Yeah, I miss him too.”  The two of them hugged it out and let the tears flow.  Everybody came together for a short cry session, then slowly got up and went their separate ways.

“You coming back up Miles?” Blake asked as she started to head back to the room they were staying in.

“I think I’m going to stay out here for a little while longer.  I’ll come inside in a few minutes.”  Blake nodded and left him alone.  Miles continued to sit in the courtyard by himself, watching as the sun began to fade from sunset to nightfall, leaving him alone in the dark.

            “Even if it somehow were true,” he said to himself, “why would he do this?”

 

 

 

            “You’re sure this plan will work Lord Tenebris?” Lord Imperia said as she looked over a hologram projection.

            “It’s clear that they don’t know where to search for the Relic of Life” Lord Tenebris said as he pulled up maps of several mountains.  “But if we can trick them into thinking we’ve found it, then we can keep them distracted while we achieve our goals.”

            “We would be risking a vast majority of the fleet for this operation Lord Tenebris.  I do not wish to have a repeat of what happened in Atlas.”

            “Neither of us wish to deal with failure again my lord, but this will ensure our total victory against the betrayers and pretenders."

            “Very good Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said turning to leave the room.  “You may proceed.”  With that said, Lord Imperia exited the room, while Lord Tenebris smiled and started to make the preparations.

            “Soon, they will see the truth.  Soon, they will realize that they were wrong to betray me.  That moment when I give them everything they ever truly needed, and I take it from them to punish them for their insolence and lack of understanding.  I hope I can see the looks on their faces when they realize that I was right all along.”  Lord Tenebris chuckled to himself while he continued his final preparations, all while a sick smile grew across his face while he laughed.


	29. Episode 2: Chapter 10: Mountains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons.

Several airships flew through the skies of Vale, preparing to begin their search of the nearby area.  The pilot of one of these ships checked his systems one last time, then a hologram of General Ironwood appeared on his console.

            “Gentlemen,” Ironwood said placing his hands behind his back, “these are your orders.  We have narrowed down our search to a certain range of mountains just west of the kingdom of Vale.  We are looking for the tallest mountain in the area, but since mountains change overtime and Ozpin got this information centuries ago, there’s no telling whether or not the mountain we are looking for has grown smaller over the years or if perhaps new mountains have formed.  That’s why we are sending you out first to scan the mountains to find any form of data we can use in order to ensure that we are maximizing our efforts searching the right mountain, rather than dividing our efforts into trying to search every single mountain on foot.  Good luck gentlemen.  The fleet will be right behind you.”  With that, Ironwood ended his communication and the pilots made their way towards the coordinates they were given.  As they got out of range from Mistral, the pilot reached into his pocket, pulled out his Scroll, and opened up an app that did nothing except send out a small pulse every few minutes.

 

 

 

            Ironwood stepped away from the holodeck and made his way back to the bridge.  The Atlas fleet was beginning to take off around them from Atlas Academy and started to make their way towards their objective.  Several dropships took off going on ahead towards the mountains in Vale, while the primary air fleet continued to get up to speed and go through their final checks.  As they continued to take off, Ironwood pulled out his Scroll and called out,  
            “All teams, report in.”

            “Team Alpha standing by.” Ruby’s voice came in through the speaker.

            “Team Beta standing by” Jaune said over the radio.

            “Team Gamma standing by” Natalie called out.

            “Team Delta standing by” Christy’s said as her airship flew past Ironwood’s ship.

            “Team Epsilon standing by” Bovia said with confidence.  The other teams continued to report in as they took off.  Ironwood continued to watch and listen as the airships took off.

            “Good luck everybody” Ironwood said with a sigh.  “Here’s hoping we aren’t going to need it.”

 

 

 

            As their airship flew through the sky, Natalie put her scroll away and strapped back in.  “All right,” she said as she clicked the belt into place, “so long as everything goes according to plan, we should reach the mountains in a few hours.  Make sure you’ve got all your weapons loaded and ready to go before we get there and not right when we fly in.”

            “First of all Natls,” Evan said in a bit of an annoyed tone, “we aren’t students anymore.  This isn’t our first rodeo.  Second, what makes you think we’re even going to have to fight anybody once we do arrive?”

            “Neither us nor the Order know where the Relic of Life is hidden.  So that means, once we find what we’re looking for, chances are the Order is going to realize what our objective is, and since their goal has been to try and claim all the Relics for themselves, then it will only be a matter of time before the Order attacks us and try to claim the Relic for themselves.  So we need to hope that we either find the Relic before they even realize we’re looking for it, or we need to hope that if they do attack, that we can hold them off before they are able to put troops on the ground and claim the Relic for themselves.”

            “Weren’t you in the briefing for this mission Evan?” Miles asked tilting his head in confusion.

            “I was pulled aside by Professor Oobleck to get some things related to school all tided up and taken care of before we left.  I missed Ironwood’s original briefing.”  They all chuckled as their airship continued to drone on through the sky.  Miles was trying to relax when has Scroll started rining.  He pulled it out and saw that Blake was trying to call him.  He unbuckled and walked towards the back of the airship for a little more privacy.

            “Hey Blake, what’s up?”

            “Hey” Blake said trying to speak loud enough with the engines of the other airship leaking through.  “Are you doing all right?  That stuff with Nathan the other day really threw us all for a loop.”  Miles sighed and pinched his forehead.

            “Yeah, I’m all right.  I didn’t mean to make everybody upset.  I just had a lot going through my mind that day.  Between everything with Nathan and this whole stinking war, I’m not exactly running on what you might consider rational thought.  Between what people like Ember and Christy have told me to how things apparently went down in the Dark Realm, I was just thinking a bit too hard about everything.  I think I’m just tired and at a point where I don’t really believe that he’s gone.  Even to the point where I would make baseless accusations and assumptions like I did the other day.”

            “I don’t fully think they’re baseless.  Like you said, Christy and Ember have both had encounters with Tenebris that do lean towards information that only somebody like Nathan would know.”  
            “Yes, but I think I was getting ahead of myself.  I was just thinking a million miles a minute about a problem that might not even truly exist instead of focusing on what’s in front of us.”  Blake chuckled a little bit as Miles explained all that was going through his head.

            “You’ve always had a tendency to worry about too many things at once” she said, causing Miles to smile a little bit.  “Remember how difficult it was for you to tell me you liked me?”  
            “Oh my gosh,” Miles said now full-on embarrassed.  “Do you really want me beet red going into battle just because of something from so long ago?”

            “You were so embarrassed and afraid of me saying no that you almost kept it to yourself despite the fact that it was super obvious to me.”  
            “Seriously, why are you doing this right now?”  
            “It’s to remind you that despite the fact that you were so nervous and afraid of rejection, you made that leap, and found something you never realized you would have without having tried, and all the while you didn’t lose anything in the process.  I think while not at all similar, you’re facing something like this with this whole Lord Tenebris situation.  You’re afraid that you are just going to hurt or lose your friends just because of one separate emotion that you feared would cause somebody to be mad at you.  But you’ve got a great group of friends surrounding you who care about you.  Don’t be afraid of hurting the people you care about.  Because you do have everyone’s best interests at heart, and everyone knows that.  Especially your daughter.”  Miles smiled, scratching his nose a little bit.

            “Thanks Blake.  That means a lot to me.”  
            “Anytime.  Now focus up.  We can’t have anybody having some big crisis of emotion right now.  Not when we’ve got a life to save.”  
            “Right.”

            “Love you.”  
            “Love you too.”

            “Stay safe out there.”  
            “You too.”  With that, they hung up, and Miles returned to his seat, taking a deep breath.  His doubts now washed away, he steeled himself for the mission to come.

 

 

 

            Ember and Gray continued to struggle back and forth with a thumb war, both of them struggling to try and get the upper hand.  Everybody from Team BEAT and Team GASH were on board, watching with excitement and anticipation.  
            “You always do this you know Gray” Ember said with a sly smile on her face.  
            “What’s that, win?”  Gray said as he tried to go in for a pin while Ember was distracted.

            “No,” Ember said as she easily dodged Gray’s attempt.  She tried to perform a counter, but Gray had managed to slip away before that could happen.  “You always try to slip away if things seem like they aren’t going your way.  You lack confidence little brother.”  
            “What I lack is a collection of wins against you!” Gray went in for another attack as he said this, but Ember was already ready for him.  The moment that Gray attacked, Ember slid her thumb beneath the incoming attack, guiding Gray into a false sense of security, which resulted in her slipping out of the temporary hold and pinning Gray’s thumb in a vice grip.  Ember’s teammates cheered while Gray’s teammates groaned in disappointment.  As they unlocked their grip, Gray wiggled his hand in discomfort.  
            “I swear, it feels like you break something every time we do this sis.”  
            “Look Gray, you need to be more confident.  You’re a strong guy!  And you were chosen to lead this team for a reason.  But you can’t be afraid to fail.  There were several moments where each and every one of my teammates failed during our time at Beacon.”  
            “Speak for yourself” Terra said jokingly.

            “But at the end of our time, we were regarded as one of the best graduating teams at Beacon.  We weren’t perfect, and we didn’t need to be.  We just needed to be enough to make sure we succeeded.”  
            “Are you kidding me right now?” Aurora said clearly ticked off.  “You guys had it easy compared to us!  All you guys had was a normal four years at Beacon!  And everybody heralded you all as the best since the time of our parents!  Now we not only have our own families expectations to uphold, but the standards set by you guys before us!  And on top of that, we are in the middle of a freaking war!  All within our first few months so pardon us if we seem like we are trying to keep our heads above water here!”  
            “I didn’t mean it like that Aurora.  I just mean….”  
            “Leave it alone Em.” Arri said placing her hand on Ember’s shoulder.  “She’s right.  They’ve got enough going on as it is without us trying to remind them of the fact that they are just freshmen.”  Ember got up and returned to her seat, a bit hurt by what Arri had said to her.  Everybody returned to their seats as well, and continued to sit in silence.  Gray was thinking about what Ember had told him, when Bovia placed her hand on his shoulder.  
            “Honestly,” she said with a smile, “I still sometimes feel like I’m not the best person to lead them, either then or now.  But I figured out the important thing is to trust and work with your team, and they in turn will do the same for you.  It’s not all about being right all the time, it’s about understanding how you and your friends work best, and making sure none of you die out there.”  
            “A comforting thought.” Gray said with a sigh.

            “Not the most uplifting words, I know, but important ones for any leader to hear.  You are only as good as the support you’ve got behind you.”

            “I know” Gray said with a smile.  “I just hope that the person in front of them is up for the task.”

            “Ozpin hasn’t made a mistake when it comes to team leader yet” Bovia said returning to her seat.  “I’m sure he saw something in you that made you stand out.”

            “Like the fact that I’m related to one of the heroes from the Battle of Vytal?”  
            “We all are related to somebody from that battle” Sora said in a mocking tone.  “It’s kind of crazy if you really think about it.”  They all laughed, and continued to keep each others spirits up while waiting to arrive at their destination.

 

 

 

            The scout ships finally reached the mountain range, and began to break off and scan the area.  The mountains were mostly close together, but they were big enough that they were separate entities.  Along with that, there were a few mountains a mile west that were also considered as potential locations for the Relic.  The pilot took his ship and made his way towards the mountains to the west, and started scanning.  He got his readings, and then pulled up his Scroll, and pressed three buttons.  With that, he made his way back towards the main mountain range, and called out on the radio,  
            “Nothing picking up in those mountains to the west.  Let’s keep looking around here.”  The other pilots acknowledged this, and then the pilot pulled out another Scroll, which he activated and said, “I found the mountain.  Rest of the scout ships think that the Relic isn’t there.  Make the move now.”

            “Acknowledged Agent 21” Lord Tenebris’ voice came in through the speaker.  “We have received the coordinates you sent us, and we are sending the main fleet.  We will be there in about ten minutes.  Be ready for when we arrive.”  
            “Yes my lord.”

 

 

 

            The main dropships continued to make their way towards the mountains, Ty growing a bit restless in the back.  He kept pacing back and forth as time went on.

            “Hey pilot!” Ty yelled from the back.  “How close are we?”

            “We’re about two minutes out at our current pace” the pilot said with a slightly annoyed voice.  “We aren’t going to get there any faster if you keep asking me every five minutes.”

            “Take a breath Ty” Christy said with a sarcastic tone.  “This is honestly just going to be more of a fetch-quest than anything else.”  
            “Yeah, except the last time we went on a supposed fetch quest, we went to a mirror dimension where Jacob almost got killed.  Our fetch-quests seem to turn into try-and-survive quests.”  
            “All part of the job” Brooklyn said twiddling her thumbs.  “We don’t really know whether or not the job is going to become more complicated or not.  We have had our fair share of dealing with things going south on missions more often than not.”  
            “I know, but this time it feels worse than normal.  When things go wrong normally, we usually deal with it and move on to the next mission.  Now we’re on a mission to make sure that our friend doesn’t die because of the last mission we were on.”

            “True enough,” Christy said standing up, “but still…..” before Christy could finish her sentence, the airship suddenly increased its speed and caused both Ty and Christy to almost lose their balance.

            “What’s going on?” Ty yelled up to the pilot.   But the pilot didn’t respond.  He simply flew the airship as fast as he could.  Then once he slowed down again, he flipped a switch and the battle alarm came on.  Brooklyn quickly got up from her seat, and opened one of the doors of the dropship.  Just outside of their ship, the entire fleet of the Order was raining fire upon all the smaller ships within the area.

            “How did they get here so quickly?!” Ty yelled as he tried to maintain his balance while the pilot did some evasive maneuvers.

            “Not important right now!” Christy said as she made her way to the cockpit.  I’m calling Ironwood!”  While Christy reported in what was happening, Brooklyn morphed her weapon into sniper form and started taking shots at the enemy fighters, while Ty morphed his weapon to bazooka form and started taking shots at the turrets on the big warships.  They kept doing what they could, but then a turret managed to land a solid hit on one of their wings, causing the airship to start spinning out of control.

            “I hope you managed to tell Ironwood what the heck is going on here” Ty said as he grabbed onto one of the support straps to keep himself from falling over.

            “It got reported in by the scout ships, so Ironwood has already got the warships going at max speed to get here” Christy said as she loaded her weapons.  “He said it would take about ten minutes for the warships to get here.  In the meantime, I don’t think we can stay here.”

            “So what’s the plan then?” Brooklyn said firing a few more rounds at enemy fighters.

            “We need to deal with those big guns on the warships” Ty said as he fired another round of rockets.  “I say we take the fight to them.  Literally.”

            “Do you think we can deal with them all by ourselves?” Brooklyn asked as she reloaded her Dust cartridges.

            “The other teams are right behind us” Christy said as she pulled out her axes.  “I’m synced up with their communications, so I’ll relay the plan to them, and hopefully we can get some help down there.”

            “Sounds good to me” Ty said as he let go of the strap.  He then proceeded to leap out the side of the dropship, heading straight towards the nearest Order warship.  Christy and Brooklyn quickly followed suit, with Christy relaying to everyone who could hear her,

            “This is Christy and the active members of Team Delta.  Our airship has gone down, and we are taking the fight to the Order.  If you can reach us, we could use the help in taking down these warships.”  With that, the three of them got ready to land on the warship.  Christy and Brooklyn had normal landings, but Ty angled himself towards the nearest turret, and collided right into it.  His Semblance took a majority of the damage, but he was still a little slow to get back up.  Regardless, the turret was down, and the three of them continued on their way to take out more turrets.  For the most part, they faced little resistance at first, since it seemed improbable that anybody would attempt an attack like this.  However, as time progressed, the Order realized they were there and dispatched troops through service hatches onto the exterior of the warship.  Ty and Brooklyn were both preoccupied with slicing up a turret with the sword forms of their weapons, so Christy morphed her axes into gun form and started taking out the Order soldiers as they got closer and closer.  While helping a great deal, this didn’t slow the Order soldiers entirely.  So to try and combat the oncoming hordes to buy her friends time, Christy charged forward, taking some shots, but once she was close enough, morphed her weapons back into axe form and engaged in close quarters combat.  The soldiers did very little to phase Christy as she cut through them easier than most Grimm.  Most of these grunt soldiers tried to simply shoot her on sight, but she continued to dodge left and right while only taking minimal hits having her Aura absorb most of the side damage.  Suddenly however, a large soldier wielding an electric bow staff approached her.  Christy took a deep breath and engaged the soldier.  The soldier started by doing a sweep across to try and knock Christy off balance, but she parried the attack easily with one of her axes, and quickly morphed her other axe to gun form to get a few quick close-range shots at the soldier.  This caused the soldier to stagger and try to collect himself.  Christy rushed in at this opportunity and landed several strikes.  The soldiers tried to regain his bearings, and prepared another attack.  Christy was prepared to block and counter this attack, but all of a sudden, she was under fire from all the other Order soldiers in the nearby vicinity.  Most of them had decided to break off their attempts of attacking Ty and Brooklyn and had diverted their attention to her.  In that moment, her defense started to break down, and the soldier with the staff saw his opening and struck Christy with the electric end of his staff.  Christy still had a lot of Aura left, so she was able to take the hit.  But it did knock her to the ground, giving the enemy a chance to attack.  Christy was prepared for this however, and was prepared to launch a counter attack that while taking out a lot of nearby soldiers, it would leave her vulnerable depending on how many shots the enemy managed to land.  But before anything could happen, several shots came flying out of nowhere, knocking the soldiers off balance and into the air.  Looking up, Christy saw that Yang had fired several shots from one of the dropships, while Natalie leapt out of another one and started taking down more of the other soldiers.  Everybody else soon followed in suit, leading to the entirety of the old generation standing together on top of one of the Order’s airships.

            “Don’t think we ever did something this crazy during our freshman year” Natalie said jokingly as she fired a shot at a far off Order soldier.

            “Eh, still say fighting a literal god is a bit more intense than a couple of warships” Yang said in a mocking voice.  As they got their bearings, the rest of the Atlesian fleet arrived, leading to large scale attacks from both sides against both warships.

            “Don’t think we’re going to be able to stay on here much longer” Evan said as several shots from the Atlesian warships began raining down on the Order warship they were standing on.  With that, the team leapt off their current warship and headed for another one, looking to take it down as well.

            “Bold of the Order to go all out like this” Ty said as he fired several bazooka rockets at Order soldiers on the next warship trying to shoot them out of the sky.

            “Well,” Ruby said with a smile, “that’s their mistake.  And I for one welcome this newfound drastic tactic from the Order.”

 

 

 

            Lord Imperia watched as the battle raged from the bridge of the lead warship.  She smiled once she saw all the Atlesian warships arrive and engaging with their own ships.

            “We have their attention Lord Tenebris” Imperia said over her Scroll.  “You may begin your operation.”

            “At once Lord Imperia” Lord Tenebris replied.

 

 

 

            Teams BEAT and GASH were still on their dropship, flying around the battle.  Their pilot had gotten caught up in some crossfire, so he attempted to evade the fire from the turrets, only to be immediately tailed by an enemy fighter moments later.  He kept trying to shake the fighter, but to no avail.  Reacting quickly, Sora opened one of the side doors, and flew right towards the enemy fighter.  Before the enemy pilot could even react to what was happening, Sora sliced off one of the fighter’s wings, causing it to careen and crash on the surface below.  Sora quickly returned to the dropship with high fives all around waiting for him.

            “Good stuff man!” Hera said with excitement.  “He literally didn’t see that coming!”

            “So long as the shoe fits!” Sora said jokingly.

            “So where to now?” Aurora asked looking out the side of the airship.  “It looks like our parents are down on the enemy warships.”

            “Then that’s where we should probably go” Arri said loading up her weapon.  “We can’t have the old people do everything for us!”

            “Wait,” Gray said walking towards the cockpit, “what’s that?”  Everybody turned to see what Gray was looking at, and they saw a small Order dropship flying away from the main warship and towards the mountain range to the west.

            “Did they forget that the battle is the other way?” Terra asked sarcastically.

            “Maybe they’re deserters?” Aurora wondered aloud.

            “Wait,” Bovia said watching the dropship activate its cloaking abilities.  “Wasn’t that mountain range a part of what the scouts were supposed to be scanning?”  
            “You’re right” Ember said scratching her head.  “But didn’t the scouts report that nothing was there?”

            “Maybe they scanned the mountain wrong?” Hera said shrugging her shoulders.

            “I don’t like it” Bovia said with concern.  “Pilot!  Activate cloaking and follow that enemy dropship!”

            “Yes ma’am” the pilot responded.  With that, the pilot activated the cloaking device, and started to follow the dropship.

            “Please,” Aurora said clasping her hands together, “please let it just be deserters and not some crazy jerk who wants to kill us.”


	30. Episode 2: Chapter 11: Cavern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons

Lord Tenebris slowly stepped off the airship as it touched down near the top of the mountain.  While the scans showed that the Relic was hidden somewhere in the mountain, it didn’t show where or how to enter where it was hidden or where specifically within the mountain that it lay.  The soldiers that could be spared on the airship without being noticed by the enemy spread out and began trying to find spikes in energy that would potentially lead them to the Relic.  They scanned the area further and further, but still nothing that could truly point to where the Relic is.

            “Keep searching” Lord Tenebris said looking back towards the main battle.  “We may not have long before they notice what we are trying to do.”

            “Going as fast as we can my lord” one of the soldiers said as he continued to scan the area.  “Everything says that the Relic is here, but we still can’t find anything that could be where it is hidden.”  
            “Perhaps we are looking only at the surface.  It is entirely possible that there is a chamber hidden within this mountain which hides the Relic.”

            “What would you have us do my lord?”

            “Keep searching for a way in.  The more we search the more it becomes apparent that this Relic is hidden from plain sight.  But while searching, begin planting charges.  If we can’t find a natural way in, we will create our own entrance.  The charges shall be our absolute last resort.  Because if the enemy didn’t already know we were here, then the explosions will certainly alert them to our actions.  Set the charges commander, but only activate them upon my signal or any sign that the enemy is heading our way.”

            “Yes my lord.”  Lord Tenebris then walked away and resumed searching for a way in as well.  
            “We are so close” he said clenching his fist.  “I refuse to let anything or anybody stop me now.”

 

 

 

 

 

            Team BEAT and Team GASH all quickly leapt off the airship, letting the pilot fly away from the mountain before the Order realized that they were there.  They stood at the base of the mountain, looking upwards and not sure how to proceed.

            “Why couldn’t we have landed close to the top again?”  Arri asked with a slight worry that they were going to have to climb the entire mountain.

            “Can’t risk the Order realizing that we’re here” Bovia said as she pulled out a pair of binoculars.  “We’re still far enough down that I don’t think the Order is going to notice us.”

            “So what’s the plan boss?” Ember asked cracking her knuckles.

            “I say we should call the fleet and let them know that the Order is here” Terra said as she picked up some strong rocks.  “Then we could blast the Order right off the mountain while we easily pick up the Relic for ourselves.”

            “Not a good idea” Bovia said as she zoomed in on some activity further up the mountain.  “Looks like they’re setting some form of charges on the mountain itself.  I think they plan on blowing a hole in the side of this place.”

            “So if the fleet moves in to attack,” Gray said scratching his chin, “then they blow a hole in the side of the mountain, and they could still potentially get away with the Relic.”

            “Obviously can’t let that happen” Aurora said rolling her neck.  “Should we go introduce ourselves?”  
            “No,” Sora said running his hand through his hair, “that might just cause them to detonate the bombs anyways.  We need to find the Relic before they do.”

            “Well clearly they’re doing such a great job at finding it” Hera said yawning.

            “Say,” Arri said leaning over towards Hera, “your new best friend in your head wouldn’t know anything about where to look, now would she?”

            “One second” Hera said as she fell silent.  A moment later, she groaned and turned back to the group.  “Salem doesn’t know didly squat.  It’s just like Ozpin told us: the gods didn’t exactly give the two of them a map and drew a big giant X on where to go exactly.”

            “We need to think about this logically then” Bovia said as she walked over to a nearby stream.  “The Relic of Life and its powers are still a bit of a mystery in regards to what it can do and how it works.  But if we are going by the namesake, perhaps all we have to do is follow the trail of life.”  
            “Hate to break it to you fearless leader,” Terra said with a scoff, “but this whole mountain is teeming with life.”

            “Exactly.  This mountain in particular is teeming with life.  Sure, some of the other mountains have life on them, but none of them to the level that this singular mountain contains.”  Bovia then dipped her hand into the water of the stream.  “I haven’t honestly felt water like this in my entire life.”  
            “It’s water Bovia” Ember said tilting her head.  “Unless it’s magic water I don’t think it’s all that special.”

            “I’m serious!  Most water has elements of dirt and grime and pollution along with the water itself.  But this water is smoother than anything that I have ever felt in my entire life.  Is it possible that the Relic of Life itself is providing all the life for this mountain?”

            “If that’s the case,” Gray said as he joined Bovia in feeling the water, “then how do we trace it back?  If the Relic is providing all life on this mountain, then does that mean all the trees and plants have roots leading back to the Relic?”

            “Maybe it’s not that complex.  Most life be it on a mountain or anywhere in Remnant, it all starts with water.  So it may be possible that the Relic is pumping out water from inside the mountain like a spring, which in turn is supplying the mountain with an endless supply of water.  And since this water is from the Relic, then perhaps if we follow the water, we can find the Relic!”

            “Makes sense to me” Arri said as she put her hands behind her back.  “So how do we make sure that the Order doesn’t get all up in our faces?”

            “I think I might have an idea for that” Bovia said with a smile.

 

 

 

 

 

            Miles leapt up onto the top level of the Order’s warship, and sliced into the ship, hoping that he managed to cause something to malfunction somewhere in the ships electronics.  Seconds later, the warship began to wobble a little bit, as one of the engines started sputtering in and out of power.  Miles smiled and ran over to join the rest of his friends who were dealing with the remaining Order soldiers on the warship who weren’t running back inside to board their evacuation airships.

            “This is really easy” Ty said as he fired a bunch of rockets at the command deck of the warship.

            “Not time to celebrate yet” Natalie said as she and Ruby started taking shots at the airships leaving the warship.  “We haven’t won until we have the Relic heading back to Jacob to heal him up.”

            “True enough” Brooklyn said as she returned her weapon to bracelet form.  “And we aren’t going to do that if we stay here.”  With that, everybody leapt off the side of the warship and landed perfectly in friendly airships that were waiting for them.

            “All right,” Christy said as she regained her bearings.  “Everybody make it back okay?”

            “All good here” Evan said as he called in over the radio from another airship.  “But it doesn’t look like the Order is taking the hint and bailing out of here.”

            “The Relic is up for grabs” Pyrrha said as she reloaded her rifle.  “They aren’t going to back away from a prize like that so easily.”

            “Well then we’ll just have to keep showing them what happens when they mess with us!” Yang said as she reloaded her gauntlets in a flashy manner.

            “Hello?”  Bovia’s voice cut in through the radio with a bit of static.

            “Hello?” Christy said as she tried to make out who was speaking on the other line.  “Who is this?”   

            “This is Bovia with Team Epsilon.  Listen to me, the Order is making a play for the Relic!”

            “We know” Ty said with an annoyed tone.  “We’ve been fighting them for the last while.”     

            “They’re distracting you over there!”  Everybody suddenly got super serious when they heard this.  “We’re over at a mountain range not far from the battle.  The Order dropped off a small group of soldiers around the mountain and they’ve been scouring the place for the Relic.  Don’t know if they’re going to find it soon or not.”

            “We’ll let Ironwood know right away!” Blake said moving towards the cockpit of her airship.  “We’ll swing the fleet around to give you air support.”  
            “Hold off on that part!” Bovia yelled through the radio.  “The Order has set charges on the mountain.  If they see you coming, they’ll probably blow the whole thing!”

            “All right,” Ruby said as she reloaded her rifle, “that’s an issue.  You kids still need backup though!”

            “It’s not that many soldiers.  We’ve handled worse numbers.”

            “Better to not take any chances though.  We’ve all but won this battle in the sky, so we can send over support to drive the Order out and claim the Relic for ourselves.”

            “Backup wasn’t a part of my plan, but we can make it work” Bovia said clearly annoyed on the other end of the radio.  “The flee doesn’t have to head our way, but tell Ironwood to position the fleet in a way that ensure the Order can’t send any form of backup to this mountain.  We’ll handle the soldiers already here.”

            “At the very least wait for us to get there” Natalie said growing more annoyed.  “There’s a better chance of survival if we have strength in numbers.”

            “We can’t risk the Order getting to the Relic first.  I have a plan to find the Relic.  Aurora, Ember and myself will be one team as we search for the Relic, while everybody else distracts the Order.  Once you arrive, help the main team on the mountain.  Make sure they think that’s where we all are and keep them from heading towards us and the Relic.”

            “Okay,” Miles said reloading the pistol chambers of his weapons.  “We’ll be there as soon as we can.  Be careful.”

            “As always” Bovia said before signing off.  With that, Ruby called Ironwood to fill him in on the plan, and almost instantaneously, Ironwood began shifting the fleet to ensure that no Order reinforcements would be able to reach the mountain.  As soon as they had their protection, the airships carrying the teams went full speed towards the mountain, hoping that the Order wouldn’t panic and immediately blow the charges on the side of the mountain.

 

 

 

            “Okay, they’re on their way now” Bovia said as she made sure that she was fully prepared.  “Everybody know their assignments?”  Everybody nodded their heads in agreement.

            “We got this Bovia” Terra said giving her leader a thumbs up.  “You guys go take care of business.”  Bovia smiled and braced herself as Aurora picked her up and ran alongside the creek leading to the top of the mountain.  After a split second, they reached the top.  Aurora put Bovia down and ran back down to grab Ember. While Aurora was doing that, Bovia began to investigate the area around the source of the stream that they had just found.  She looked long and hard to try and see if she could find anything that would be a nearby cave or perhaps an opening that lead into the mountain, but she couldn’t find anything.  As she was looking, Aurora returned with Ember in tow.

            “Any luck Bovia?” Ember asked as she tried to regain her bearings.

            “Nothing yet.  There has to be something around here somewhere.”

            “Well while we’re thinking about it,” Aurora said as she tried to catch her breath, “could you possibly give me a refuel?  Running up and down that mountain took a lot of aura out of me.”

            “Yeah, no problem.”  Bovia then activated her Semblance to pull water out of the stream to help replenish Aurora’s Aura, but as she pulled the water out, she felt something.  A powerful push almost as she lifted the water out of the stream.  She quickly healed up Aurora, then turned her attention back to the stream.  She lifted up the water, and found that where the water was flowing, there was a large cave that lead into the mountain.

            “Well that works” Ember said with a bit of a surprise in her voice.  Bovia then quickly made a water bubble with an air pocket that the three of them could all use.  After that, they walked into the stream and started fighting against the current through the cave.  After a few minutes of walking, they could see light at the end of the tunnel.

 

 

 

            Lord Tenebris was pacing back and forth, deep in thought.

            “There’s something we’re missing about all of this” he said as he punched a nearby rock.  “Something that seems obvious but at the same time,”

            “My lord!” one of the soldiers shouted from just down the mountain.  “We are under attack!”  Lord Tenebris quickly noticed a small group of warriors approaching his team.  He recognized them right away, and his rage grew.

            “The one who was never meant to exist and his fools?  What is the meaning of this?”  The children didn’t hear Lord Tenebris’ remarks, but rather started taking names and beating up any Order soldiers that were in the vicinity.  Gray was slicing people left and right with his blades, Sora got some easy shots in on the enemy, Hera was stretching her arms to punch several soldiers with her powerful gauntlets, Terra kept tossing rocks at the enemy, and Arri was using her vines and other plant life to completely shut down the enemy.  However, Lord Tenebris noticed something.  As the enemy was charging forward, he noticed that the Atlas warships were starting to move in a way that would keep the Order from sending reinforcements.  He then started surveying the area, then noticed that one of the nearby streams was suddenly he noticed that all of a sudden, the water seemed to start becoming less than normal.  As if somebody had put a stopper in the flow of the stream and it was starting to dry up, only to have it seconds later be replenished by a new flow of water.  Lord Tenebris walked towards the stream and radioed the commander saying,

            “I think I may have found a way in.  Hold them off for as long as you can.  I’m going to claim the Relic.  Don’t blow the charges unless I give the order.  Forget if Atlas decides to attack, we are close to our goal.

 

 

 

            The airships continued to speed towards the mountain, with the pilots laying down some cover fire, everybody prepared to leap out the side and join the battle with Teams BEAT and GASH.  However, one of the Order soldiers managed to get a few shots at one of the incoming airships, forcing the pilot to veer off and try again.  The pilot flew the airship around the side of the mountain, looking to set up for a longer return path than just doing a sharp turn.  However, in that moment, Miles looked out the side of the airship and noticed something.  Lord Tenebris standing by a stream, activating his aura burn, and walking straight into the water.  It took him a second to realize what had happened, but he quickly put two and two together.

            “Jaune!” Miles yelled, causing Jaune to jump a little bit.  “I need a quick Aura oomph!”

            “What for?” Jaune asked as he prepared to transfer some extra Aura to Miles.

            “No time!  Just do it!”  Jaune complied and gave Miles a small boost in his aura levels.  As soon as that was done, Miles leapt out of the side of the airship, landing perfectly in the middle of the water just downstream of the source.  He quickly moved forward, and started moving water out of his way with his Semblance, creating a path deeper and deeper into the tunnel.

 

 

 

            The three girls kept moving forward, not sure of what to expect when they reached the light at the end of the tunnel.  As they emerged from the water, Bovia dropped the water sphere protecting them, and they took in the sight that lay before them.  It was a massive cavern with crystals adorning the side of the entire cave.  There was a single light that was trickling in from a crack at the top of the cavern, which perfectly hit one of the crystals, illuminating the entire room.  The light wasn’t blinding, just enough to light the space like a regular day.  The floor was a shallow lake, that only came up to their ankles.  The water was perfectly clear, no mud or anything like that on the surface, just a simple smooth rock bottom.  And in the center was a small tiny island no bigger than a normal sized living room, and on that island was a luscious green tree with grass growing all around it.  Within the center of the tree however, sat the prize, the Relic of Life.  A silver rosary with a white crystal in the center.  It almost seemed as if the Relic was bonded with the tree itself.  The three of them stood there for a moment in awe, but quickly regained focus of their mission.  They made their way to the island, and stared long and hard at the Relic.

            “Does this seem right to you?” Aurora asked as they studied the tree.  “This Relic is clearly responsible for all the life that sustains this mountain.  If we take it away, who knows what will happen.”

            “We aren’t going to keep it forever” Ember said as she reached for it.  “Besides, this is necessary in order to save Jacob’s life and make sure that the Order doesn’t get their hands on it.”

            “I agree” Bovia said while Ember removed the Relic from the tree.  “We will return this to its rightful place once we have ensured victory.”  They turned to leave, but then from the tunnel that they entered from, steam started to rise.  They all drew their weapons, and prepared for what was coming.  Seconds later, Lord Tenebris emerged from the tunnel, the water still steaming as his Aura burn continued to push the water aside, even in the shallow lake.

            “I honestly didn’t expect you to figure out the riddle to the Relic of Life before we did” Tenebris said as he slowly drew his sword.  “However, you have expedited our search, and have given me exactly what I need.”

            “You skipped the part where you don’t actually have the Relic yet jerk” Bovia said as she got into an attack position.  “And we won’t give it to you that easily.  We’ll die before letting you win”

            “Dear child,” Lord Tenebris said as he raised his sword over his head, “I have no considerations of letting you live whatsoever.”  With that, he struck the ground with his sword, sending out a powerful shockwave, forcing the three of them to defend themselves against the attack.  In that moment, Lord Tenebris rushed forward and struck Aurora right in the gut.  Aurora’s aura took most of the hit, but it sent her flying across the room and into the cavern wall.  Ember reacted quickly and tried to strike Lord Tenebris, but he anticipated the attack and blocked it with ease.  He then proceeded to activate his Aura burn, forcing Ember and Bovia to leap backwards.  Bovia used the weighted end of her kusarigama to hit Lord Tenebris at a distance, but he simply grabbed the weight, and used it to send Bovia flying as well.  Ember used her tonfas in blaster form and fired several rounds at Lord Tenebris, who managed to deflect them all with ease.  Ember realized that long rang wasn’t going to work, so she rushed forward and started engaging in close quarters combat, trying to land blows wherever she could.  However, Lord Tenebris matched her blow for blow.  From there, Ember was starting to get a bit careless and reckless.  A few moments later, Tenebris saw an opening and exploited it with ease.  He allowed Ember to strike him in the shoulders with her weapons, but then hit Ember in the chest with a powerful thrust of his sword, sending her flying into the tree.  Ember struggled to regain her footing as Lord Tenebris slowly walked towards her.

            “How disappointing” he said as he dragged his sword through the water and on the stone.  “I believed that one of the most powerful  students in Beacon’s history would have at least put up a better fight.  Perhaps I was wrong.”

            “It wouldn’t be the first time” a new voice cut in.  Slowly turning, Lord Tenebris saw Miles standing there having just emerged from the tunnel, both swords in his hands, ready for battle.


	31. Episode 2: Chapter 12: Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 12 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons

Lord Tenebris slowly turned away from Ember and faced Miles.  His fists clenched tightly, and his aura burning even brighter than before.

            “I had hoped that perhaps one day you and I would face each other alone in battle” Lord Tenebris said as he started walking towards Miles slowly.  “The day of reckoning has come at last.”  
            “Glad I gave you something to look forward to” Miles said as he checked his aura levels.  He had managed to burn through all of the boost that Jaune gave him without using up any of his own aura in order to reach the cave.

            “We need not be adversaries” Lord Tenebris said continuing to pace around the cavern with Miles matching that same pace.  “You may have strayed from the true path of Aequo, but that can be absolved if you cast aside the traitors and pretenders and join me and the Order.”

            “The true path of Aequo was about the acceptance of others and welcoming all people from all walks of life.  It was a refuge separate from the Four Kingdoms that allowed people to live in peace.  What you are doing is inciting war and despair.  Striking down those who simply don’t agree with you completely and fully.  You may have been from Aequo, but you and what it represented are far from what it stood for.”

            “No, you have twisted the meaning of Aqeuo to fit your own perverted view of the world.  You have been tainted by the world that Aequo removed itself from.  As a result, you have forgotten the true nature of what Aequo was.  It was a paradise.  There were only those who supported one another.  Not traitors and fools tearing others down so that they could be at the top.  It was a place where everybody could be properly supported and honored, not a place where people let their fear of another ascending higher than themselves consume them and let their jealously and hatred stop others from becoming what they were always meant to be.  Those who truly cared for their fellow man were honored and supported, and those who would even dare speak against the one true reality were cast out and recognized for the traitors they were.”

            “I was beginning to think I knew who you were, behind that mask” Miles said with tears forming in his eyes.  “But it’s impossible.  The man I once called brother could never be as vile as you.”

            “Nathan Grover was weak.  I destroyed him.”

            “Then I will avenge his death.”

            “Then you will join him in the abyss” Tenebris said pointing his sword at Miles.  With that, Miles rushed forward and swung his sword at Lord Tenebris.  Tenebris blocked the attack easily, and it resulted in a shockwave of sound being emitted, causing the entire cavern to shake.

 

 

 

            Ty fired several rockets towards the Order soldiers, and continued to press forward towards the main force of the enemy.  As they continued to press onwards, it became apparent that the Order soldiers did not have much in the ways of normal backup.  They were simply fighting to try and stay alive despite being overwhelmed and in dire need of support.

            “Why can’t it always be this easy?” Ty joked as he fired another round towards the enemy.

            “We aren’t done yet” Evan said as he fired a few shots at the enemy.  “For all we know, we’re playing right into the Order’s hands.”

            “If we are,” Christy said as she morphed her weapons from rifle form to axe form, “then they’re doing a terrible job of making sure we remain in this position.”  With that, she rushed forward and started taking out soldiers left and right.  Gray watched on with surprise at the amount of speed and precision with each of Christy’s attacks.

            “Was she always this powerful?” Gray asked scratching his head.

            “What?” Arri said with a chuckle.  “You didn’t honestly think that the professor at Beacon go full tilt against you guys during classes, did you?”

            “I mean….”  Arri laughed as Gray continued to try and put things together in his head before returning to the battle.

 

 

 

            General Ironwood continued to monitor the situation from the bridge as he watched several different attempts by the Order to slip past their blockade to aid the soldiers on the mountain failed one after the other.  It almost seemed that the Order was just throwing everything they had at Ironwood and hoped that maybe something would stick.  But nothing did, and attempt after attempt failed and Atlas pushed back against the advances of the Order.  Ironwood watched as another fleet of enemy airships went up in flames and crashed to the ground below, when two soldiers arrived on the bridge dragging one of the scout pilots behind them.

            “Sir,” the soldier yelled when they entered, “we’ve found the pilot that was tasked with scanning the mountain that the Relic is hidden in and reported back no signs of the Relic.”  Ironwood stepped away from the command center and approached the pilot.

            “It’s always boggled my mind,” Ironwood said as he grabbed the pilot by his shirt and lifted him up in the air, “how somebody would be so disillusioned by promises of grandeur and power that they would rather throw the entire world into chaos rather than be content with the peace and prosperity we currently have.  What compelled you to betray your brothers of Atlas and Mantle to serve the Order you traitor?”  The pilot smiled and spat in Ironwood’s face.

            “Oh Ironwood, we were never loyal to you to begin with.”

            “We?”

            “Execute Order 822!”  As soon as the pilot yelled this, a pair of techs leaped out of their seats, stole the guns from the soldiers, and started opening fire on people within the room.  Ironwood quickly pulled out his own pistols to combat the new threats, but when he rushed forward to combat the traitors, another tech snuck up to the command bridge and placed his Scroll in the receiving slot of the command center, pressed a few buttons, then all of a sudden, the Order’s symbol was on every single screen in the ship.  A second later, Lord Imperia appeared on all the screens and said,

            “My loyal soldiers.  You have endured long enough.  Execute Order 822.”  Ironwood saw this and immediately fired a shot at the Scroll in the command center, causing the feed from Lord Imperia to cut out.  But it was too late.  The doors were busted open and several Order soldiers were defending themselves against other soldiers dressed in Atlesian armor, but were clearly secret agents of the Order.  Everybody who was loyal to Atlas fought hard to keep the attack from fully breaching the command deck, but Ironwood could already tell that it was doing the job the Order needed it to.  With everybody busy dealing with the attack on the inside, the Order was starting to send ships towards the mountain, passing the blockade.  Ironwood quickly fired several shots towards the incoming attackers, forcing them back out of the bridge, and then quickly activated an emergency protocol, sealing the bridge from any form of entry.  Ironwood then ran to the communications and quickly sent out a message to those fighting at the mountain.

 

 

 

            Sora flew up into the sky and morphed his weapon into shield form, and then fired several shots towards the soldiers.  The Order soldiers were clearly on the cusp of being completely obliterated.  Sora prepared another round to fire on the enemy, when suddenly, a crackling noise came through his communicator.  He didn’t hear anything but static, but it definitely struck him as odd.  Looking back towards where the Atlesian ships were supposed to be holding the line, he now saw that the Order’s warships were past the blockade and were moving swiftly towards the mountain with nothing standing in their way.  He quickly flew back down to rejoin his friends, where everybody continued to push forward.

            “Did anybody else hear that static in their communicators?” Pyrrha asked as she fired a few more rounds at the enemy.

            “Probably an error” Evan said reloading his rifle.

            “It wasn’t an error!” Sora shouted, causing everybody around him to turn and look at him.  “The Order’s broken through the blockade!  We’re almost out of time!”

            “What?!” Ty said as he looked back to confirm what Sora was saying.  “How is that possible?  And why didn’t Ironwood warn us?”

            “I think he tried to” Yang said as she fired several more shots at the Order soldiers, who were now much more invigorated knowing that reinforcements were on their way.  “But it may be possible that the Order is jamming our communications with the warships”

            “So we can’t contact the fleet?” Blake said as she got back from slashing an Order soldier.

            “Well, you heard us over our short range communicators” Yang said as she pulled out a special round and loaded it into her left gauntlet.  “So it stands to reason that we can still talk to our friends who are in the vicinity.  It’s just the fleet we can’t reach.  Regardless, we need to hope that the kids and Miles got their hands on the Relic, because we are out of time.”  With that said, Yang fired a shot into the air which turned into a flare, causing the airships that brought them there in the first place to begin their approach to pick everybody up.

            “Miles,” Yang yelled into her communicator, “I hope you can hear me.  The Order is right on top of us, and we need to get out now.  Get the kids and get out of there now!”

 

 

 

            Miles steadied himself after another powerful strike from Lord Tenebris sent him skidding across the cavern.  He then placed his hand to his ear as Yang’s message came through, and he realized how much trouble he was in.  He slowly made his way towards where Aurora was slowly getting up from the attack that Lord Tenebris had landed on her earlier.

            “How you holding up champ?”

            “I feel like a rainbow dad” Aurora said as she drew her own two weapons.  Meanwhile, Lord Tenebris started making their way towards them, while Ember quickly joined them and looked over Bovia’s unconscious body.

            “I don’t think Bovia is getting back in this one guys” Ember said as she joined them and pulled out her own weapons.

            “Well given the news I just got,” Miles said as he made sure that Tenebris wasn’t about to launch another sound wave attack, “that’s not good for us.  The Order’s broken through the blockade, and we’re on the cusp of being overrun.”

            “So what’s the plan from the outside then?”  Ember asked growing more and more concerned.

            “Your mom signaled the airships to pick us up.  But we need to get out of here.  And I don’t think there’s a cavern as big as the one we came in through that we could escape through.  And without Bovia, I don’t think I have enough Aura left over to get us out the way I got myself in.  And that was without this guy breathing down our necks.”

            “So we defeat this guy and get the heck out of dodge?”  Aurora said with a smile.  “Easy enough.  You with me Ember?”

            “Of course” Ember said with a smirk.  Miles was about to protest, but Aurora used her Semblance to run straight at Lord Tenebris, while Ember launched herself forward with her weapons towards Tenebris as well.  Aurora was going too fast for Tenebris’ defensive Aura burn to activate, so she quickly got some fast strikes in before he had a chance to realize what was happening and recover.  In that moment, Ember reached Tenebris and started hitting him left and right, causing him to stagger, even causing his mask to crack a little bit as well.  Miles also rushed forward to join in on the action, but as he got closer, while the three of them were anticipating Lord Tenebris to activate his defensive Aura burn, he instead activated his black attack burn, causing Aurora and Ember to pull their arms back in pain when their continued attack ended up hurting them.  Miles had not yet joined the fray when this occurred, so he quickly adjusted his strategy to defending himself from the burn with his swords, but Tenebris predicted this, and immediately launched a powerful counterattack.  He used his tuning fork sword to hit Miles’ swords and break his guard, then quickly followed up with a powerful sword strike that sent Miles flying to a part of the cavern a good distance away from where Bovia was still unconscious.  In that moment, Ember and Aurora tried to switch to ranged attacks to hurt Tenebris, but all their projectiles ended up just annoying him.  He then struck his sword into the ground, causing a powerful shockwave to hit Aurora square in the chest, knocking her down to her knees, while he ran over to Ember, who wasn’t expecting that move, and immediately started using hand-to-hand tactics against her.  She tried to defend herself, but with three moves, Tenebris knocked both her tonfas behind her, and kicked her square in the face, causing her aura to break and knocking her down to the ground.  This took a lot out of Ember, but she still tried to grab her weapons and reset herself.  However, as she reached for one of her weapons, Lord Tenebris’ foot came crashing down on her arm, shattering it in an instant.  Ember screamed at the top of her lungs in pain, while Lord Tenebris calmly took the Relic from Ember and made his way towards one of the cavern walls, pulling out a remote from his cloak.

            “I had high expectations for you three” he said as he put his tuning fork sword back on its hilt.  “Even you, the fake son of Aequo.  But you have disappointed me.  You are responsible for the loss of everything and everyone I hold dear.  Now, I will take that which you love from you.”  As he said this, he pressed a button on his remote, causing one of the charges that the Order had planted to explode.  A giant hole appeared in the side of the mountain, revealing the Order’s fleet practically on the doorstep of the mountain, already opening fire on the small airships that everybody was trying to escape on.

            “Such a pity” Lord Tenebris said as he continued to walk towards Aurora, who was only then starting to regain her bearings after that last attack.  “You will have yet another soul to add to those who you failed in your life.  And yet it will not be proper enough punishment for your crimes.”  But before Tenebris could strike down Aurora, an Atlesian airship flew up to the opening in the side of the mountain, a door flew open, and Ruby and Natlaie opened fire with their weapons at Lord Tenebris, who quickly leapt away from Aurora, and started defending himself with his Aura burn.

            “Come on!” Gray yelled from the airship waving at the three of them.  Aurora slowly got up, looked around and regained her bearings.  She saw Tenebris trying to fend off the attack from the snipers, the agonized body of Ember, the unconscious body of Bovia, and her father picking up his swords once more.

            “Save me for last!” Miles yelled at Aurora.  “Get those two out of here!”

            “I don’t think I have enough Aura left for three trips!” Aurora yelled back.

            “I’ll make up the difference!  Get going!”  With that, Miles started running towards Lord Tenebris, who was completely engaged with defending himself from Ruby, Yang and Natalie.  Aurora then quickly ran over to Bovia’s body, picked her up, and ran towards the opening.  She then tossed Bovia into the air by the airship, and Gray caught the limp body by morphing the metal on his arms to grab her and bring her safely onto the ship.  She then ran back to Ember, picked her up, and instead of tossing her up in the air as Gray was still busy with trying to get Bovia secure, she started preparing to make a jump into the airship herself while still carrying Ember.  Tenebris saw this, and for a brief moment, drew his sword once more to try and strike them both down with another energy strike, but in that single moment that he left his guard down, Miles struck him in the side, forcing him down onto one knee, and then landed a powerful cross slash across his mask.  In that moment however, Lord Tenebris also reactivated his attack burn, and that knocked Miles onto his back a few feet away.  Aurora safely made the leap and landed on the airship without any trouble.  She handed Ember off to Yang who had stopped firing once Miles had taken down Lord Tenebris, and helped get Ember safely strapped in.

            “Dad!” Aurora yelled at the top of her lungs.  “We’re clear!  Come on!  We have to go!”  Miles slowly got up, trying to regain his bearings, and slowly began to turn towards the sound of his daughters voice.

            “Miles!”  Miles stopped in his tracks, turned back towards Lord Tenebris, and saw the part of the mask he had destroyed crumbling into the water.  Tenebris then looked up at Miles, his mask partially broken, revealing almost the entire right side of his face, save for his mouth.

            “Miles.”

            “Nathan…..” Nathan then slowly stood up, clutching the side where Miles had struck him.  His face now clear to see, as everybody in the airship looked on in stunned silence.  Miles then took his blades and returned to a battle stance once again.

            “I won’t run” Miles said with determination.  “Not this time.”  Nathan looked at Miles, and looked up at his family on the airship, who were still shocked at what they were seeing.  He then looked back at Miles, then his anger returned.

            “Then you will die” as he said this, he grabbed his sword, and also pulled out the detonator, activating the rest of the charges, resulting in the cavern beginning to collapse.

            “DAD!” Aurora yelled.  She tried to leap off the airship to try and grab him, but Miles turned back and used what little Aura he had left in his Semblance to push his daughter back onto the airship, and to push the airship itself away from the explosion.  Nathan tried to land a blow with his sword on Miles, but Miles blocked it with his free hand.  And once he was sure that they were away, he returned his attention to Nathan, the two of them exchanging parrys and blows while the mountain collapsed around them.  Aurora screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to reach out for her father, while Ruby held her back in a tight hug, trying to keep her from jumping out the side of the airship.

            “Take me back!” Aurora yelled at the pilot.  “Take me back!”

            “The mountain is going!” the pilot yelled from the front.  “And the Order is right on top of us!  We have to leave now!”  With that, the pilot had the door automatically close as they flew away from the mountain as it continued to explode.  Aurora cried uncontrollably while Ruby squeezed her tight.

            “There was nothing you could have done” she said crying as well.  She repeated this all the way back to Beacon.  The Xiao Longs sat there in silence, tears rolling down their eyes.  Ember wasn’t even bothered by the pain any more.  She couldn’t feel anything.

 

 

 

            When the airship finally touched down at Beacon, everybody else had already returned and were just waiting on the last ship containing the others.  As they stepped off, medical personnel rushed towards everybody.  Ember brushed off every medical person that attempted to help her, Gray continued to sit in the airship in absolute shock, Yang was on her knees crying, and Aurora was in a daze as Ruby helped her get off the ship.  Blake ran up to Aurora, then looked around hoping to see Miles as well.  When Ruby broke the news of what had happened to Miles, Blake seemingly shattered, falling onto her knees as well and holding Aurora as tightly as possible.  The two of them continued to remain there crying.  While everybody wanted to be there to console them in that moment, they let them be and helped get Bovia off the airship while offering Gray and Yang a hand as well.

 

 

 

            Ember slowly made her way towards the plaque that was erected right by the cafeteria, where it listed off the heroics of the members of Team NEMN and TEAM JCTB from the Battles of Beacon and Vytal.  She continued to read it as it inscribed the heroics of all those who fought against the evil of the Order.  She then saw her father’s name, and screamed at the top of her lungs in anger and sadness, and collapsed, finally succumbing to the injuries she had sustained.  Paramedics weren’t too far behind, and finally begain treating her.

 

 

 

            The lead warship of the Order landed not far from the rubble left over from the explosion that destroyed the top of the mountain.  Several Order soldiers were already scanning the area, trying to find any signs of the Relic.  The main doors opened, and Lord Imperia walked down and surveyed the damage.  Looking out, all she could see was a smoldering pile of rubble and destruction as far as the eye could see.  Initially believing she had seen all she needed to see, she turned to return onto the warship, but in that moment, there was a small rumbling in the ground.  Turning back around, she saw black flames creeping out from beneath the rocks towards the center of the pile.  A second later, the rocks were knocked away as if they had been hit by an exploding punch.  Moments later, Nathan emerged from the rubble, his mask completely destroyed, and his armor with several chinks and holes in it.  However, his face and body were perfectly fine.  Lord Imperia noticed a few small scratches on his left cheek, but then they slowly faded away.  Clutched tightly in Nathan’s left hand was the Relic of light, glowing brightly and healing Nathan’s wounds.  And in his right hand, he held the collar of a bloodied and broken Miles.  Saying nothing, Nathan dragged Miles across the rubble and towards the airship, Miles coughing up a bit of blood as they went along.  Lord imperia smiled as she saw the look on Nathan’s face as he did nothing but let Miles drag on the ground through the doors into the warship.  She activated her communicator and returned to the interior of the warship itself, as well as all the soldiers who were scanning the area.  As soon as everybody was aboard, the airship closed its doors, leaving the cargo hold in darkness.


	32. Episode 3: Chapter 1: Hidden Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 of Episode 3 of War of Seasons

**Nathan’s Bachelor Party/Yang’s Bachelorette Party**

            “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”  Nathan yelled at the top of his lungs as he punched the wall.  “I thought you supported me and Yang!  I thought you were our friend!”  
            “I am your friend!” Miles yelled back.  “And it’s because I’m your friend that I am telling you that there could be consequences to your actions!”  
            “So you don’t support me and Yang then?  Or this child of ours for that matter?”  
            “I never said that!  I just think that…..”  
            “NO” Nathan yelled and started storming back inside.  “If you don’t support me and Yang, then you can stay out of my life for all I care!”  
            “Wait, what?”  Before Miles had time to process what had happened Nathan had already returned inside leaving Miles to just stand outside confused as to what just happened.

 

 

            Nathan stormed back into the club, still fuming about what had just happened outside.  He walked over to the bar and grabbed a drink.  Downing it in just one second, he continued to put down drinks as time went on.  A few moments later, Ty sat down next to him.

            “I honestly didn’t take you for the type of guy to put down drinks like that” he said taking a shot himself.

            “Leave me alone” Nathan said as he took another drink.  Ty signaled the bartender to stop giving Nathan drinks as he finished the current drink he was on.

            “From what my dad told me back in the day, it’s usually fear and excitement that the groom feels the night before his wedding, not anger and rage.”

            “Well if one of your best friends stabs you in the back, you might feel a bit of anger as well.”

            “Where is this coming from?  Nobody’s betrayed you as far as I know.”

            “Well Miles just did!” Nathan yelled slamming his fist on the bar.  “How could he do this to me?  To Yang?”

            “What the flip are you talking about?”

            “Well, Yang might be pregnant you see?  And when I told Miles, he said we were making a mistake?”  
            “That doesn’t sound like Miles.”

            “Well he said it!  He doesn’t want Yang and I to be happy!  He thinks we’re moving too fast!  Well he isn’t the boss of my life!  He can’t tell me what to do!”

            “Maybe not, but he is still your friend.  And I think he was just trying to look out for you, not control you.”

            “No!  He doesn’t…..”  
            “Nathan!” Ty yelled at the top of his lungs.  Nathan almost jumped out of his seat when this happened.

            “Look,” Ty said with a sigh, “I’ve probably worked with Miles the longest out of any of you.  And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about him as a person, it’s that there are few people out there who care more for their fellow man than him.  He might not always show it, but he cares about everybody being happy.  Even to the point where sometimes he puts his own issues and troubles aside for the sake of others.  It can be a bit unhealthy sometimes, but he does it out of a place of caring.  And if he sees a friend going down a path that he’s afraid will end up in that friend hurting themselves or others, then he reacts.  Sometimes in a calm manner, other times in anger.  And I think that’s what happened to you just now.  He’s afraid you’re going to end up hurting yourself and your wife-to-be, and he doesn’t want that to happen.”

            “Well if he wants us to be happy, then he should be happy for us!”

            “Those aren’t mutually exclusive Nathan.  Over these past few years, we’ve become more or less like a family.  And sometimes, families step up and say things we don’t want to hear because they know that’s what we need to hear.  Not because they don’t love us, but because they want what’s best for us, and because they don’t want to see us hurt.”

            “I guess…..” as Nathan pondered this, Miles re-entered the bar and walked over to where Nathan and Ty were sitting.  Nathan got up and walked towards Miles.  They both stood there for a moment, then hugged one another.

            “I’m sorry man” Miles said with a sigh.

            “I’m sorry too” Nathan said patting Miles on the back.  “Sorry I over-reacted.”

            “Yeah, I can say the same.  I’m excited for you and Yang.  I really am.  I just hope that you guys are able to keep your heads above water.  Not just for your sakes, but for your child’s sake as well.”

            “I’ll do what I can” Nathan said with a smile.

 

 

 

 

**The Island of Patch**

**Three Years After the Atlesian Revolution**

            Nathan sat on his porch, watching as his young daughter ran around the front lawn with a huge smile on her face, several grass stains were visible on her overalls.  Yang stepped outside and sat down next to Nathan.

            “You doing all right?” Yang asked placing her arm around Nathan.

            “About as well as I can be” Nathan said with a sigh.

            “What’s on your mind?”

            “I’ve honestly been at this rough impasse mentally when it comes to me and Ember.  I keep revisiting what happened in Atlas a few years ago.  After what happened with Weiss and Whitley, I can’t help but keep thinking back to back in Aequo when I had my own issues with my family.  My parents were gone more often than not with missions, and Ember, my teacher Ember, was off with the Violet Troupe performing.  I had Natls and my friends back then, but I was still disconnected from my family it felt like back then.  I don’t want that to happen with our daughter and any other children we may have.  I don’t want to end up not being a part of my daughter’s life.”  
            “Nathan, you’ve been a great father to our daughter for these past several years.  Why on earth do you think you would be a bad father now?”

            “I’m not sure.  I guess I’m just scared.”

            “There’s no shame in being afraid, so long as you have the courage to face that fear and conquer it.  And I know you have that courage Nathan.  That’s one of the many reasons I fell in love with you.  And you know that I’m always here for you.  As well as everybody else who knows you and cares about you.”

            “Thanks honey” Nathan said kissing Yang on the cheek.

            “And hey, even though we have been married for all this time, maybe a professional could help you work through all this junk.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “Well let’s be real boo, I’m great at punching bad guys, not emotions.  But maybe if you found a good therapist, that could be a good healthy outlet for you to talk about what’s on your mind and better understand what you may need to process in order to be a better father.”

            “Not a bad idea.  There’s probably a few therapists who fall under our health plan from Ozpin that I could look into.”

            “I’ll look too.  There’s got to be some good options out there.

 

 

 

**Two Weeks Later**

**Nathan’s First Therapy Session**

            Nathan stepped into the office, not sure what to expect.  Sitting there at a desk going over some paperwork was a woman who looked fairly old, but also carried a sense of power about her.  She wore a purple dress, had long-flowing black hair, and had a scar over her right eye.  Looking up from her paperwork, she got up and extended a hand to greet him.

            “You must be Nathan” she said with a smile.  “My name is Katie Imperia.  Please, take a seat.”  Nathan shook Imperia’s hand and sat down, continuing to look around the office.  There were some old posters of the Violet Troupe scattered around the office, which Nathan couldn’t help but smile at.

            “I’m surprised” he said as he continued to scan the office.  “Not many people remember the Violet Troupe anymore.”

            “Well, I hope that I would remember them.  I was once a member of that organization myself!”

            “Get out of town!  My mentor was a member as well!”

            “Really?  Who?”

            “Her name was Ember….”

            “Oh!  Ember!  She was one of my best friends when I was a part of the troupe!  We were inseparable back in the day!”

            “Holy cow!  That’s awesome!  But if you don’t mind me asking, how did you survive the attack on Aequo?  The entire troupe was there when Adam Taurus attacked.”

            “I had actually quit a few years prior to the attack.  The troupe was fun, but I felt like my calling was elsewhere.  Ember and I never talked to each other after I left, but we left on good terms.  I was devastated when I heard of her death.”

            “I see” Nathan said with a sigh.

            “She meant a lot to you, didn’t she?” Imperia said with a soft smile.

            “I named my daughter after her” Nathan said with a smile.  “I really wish he could have met her.”

            “That’s sweet.  However, we should focus more on the reason why you are here today.  What seems to be bothering you?”

            “Well, a few years ago, I fought with my friends against a terrible evil that was growing in Atlas.  And during that time, I saw a good friend have to take the life of her own brother.  And that really hurt our whole group.  It scared us to the point that my wife and I decided to take a break from fighting and focus more on raising our daughter together.  We’ve even been talking about potentially having a second child.”

            “So this battle forced you to take a step back and breathe and enjoy time with your family?  Doesn’t sound very productive to me.”

            “I beg your pardon?”

            “Think about it” Imperia said placing her two right primary fingers on her temple, “you are one of the greatest heroes that Remnant has ever seen.  You should be training your daughter to protect herself from the world, not hide her away from it.  Ember knew this truth as well.  She wanted to make sure people were safe, so she did what she could to help you become better, right?  If you want to truly make your mentor proud, you should take up the role of teacher and help lead your daughter to a brighter future.”

            “That makes sense to me” Nathan said as he felt almost as if a weight was being taken off his shoulders.  “My daughter shares the same name as my mentor after all, I should do it justice!”  Imperia smiled and continued to jot down notes as Nathan continued to think through this path in his mind.

 

 

 

**Two Years Later**

**The Island of Patch**

            “You ready Ember?” Nathan said as he prepared his weapons.

            “I was born ready old man!” Ember yelled as she charged forward.  Nathan took up a defensive stance, ready to block any and every attack that Ember tried to throw her way.  Ember jumped up and swung down with her right arm, but Nathan was prepared with an easy parry, having his clubs form an X.  Ember tried to use this to her advantage by attempting to strike Nathan in the gut with the weapon in her left hand, but Nathan simply pulled the club that wasn’t being used to block the attack, and parried the attempted sneak attack from Ember.  Ember decided to try and regain her bearings, and pushed herself away from her father to reset herself.  
            “Not bad kid” Nathan said with a smile.  “But the problem with that move is that it’s really easy to read a move of that nature.  Most fighters have to think ten steps ahead in a fight, not just two.  And that goes double for when you’re on the defensive.”

            “Say that to me again once I beat you!” Ember yelled charging forward once again.  Nathan parried each and every one of Ember’s attacks, and dealt with her rather easily, landing a soft hit on her shoulder, causing her to fall to the ground.

            “Not bad kiddo” Nathan said offering Ember a hand up.  “You’re getting better.”  
            “Yeah yeah.  But just you wait dad, soon I’ll beat you!  And then we’ll see who’s laughing!”

            “I’m not laughing” Nathan said with a jokingly blank stare.  The two them then started cracking up, as Yang stepped outside with some trays with sandwiches on them.

            “You going easy on your dad there Ember?” Yang said with a smirk.

            “Yeah” Ember said grinning back.  “I’m just waiting for the perfect time to just catch him off guard and beat him into the ground!”  The three of them laughed, and enjoyed their lunch together.  Nathan smiled, and looked over at Ember.  He smiled as a small beam of sunlight landed perfectly on his daughter.  But something then happened that caught him off guard.  As the sun shone down on his daughter, Nathan swore that he saw that in place of his daughter, he now saw his mentor sitting there, with a sad look on her face.  Nathan rubbed his eyes, and when they re-focused, he saw his daughter sitting there still, smiling at him.  He smiled back, but that thought in the back of his mind still lingered.

 

 

 

**Seven Years Later**

**Two Months Into Ember’s First Year At Beacon**

**Nathan’s Therapy Session**

            As Nathan entered the room, Imperia smiled as she motioned for him to sit down.

            “What seems to be bothering you today?” she said as she took out her notepad to start recording what happened.

            “Well, it’s like I’ve been saying for the last few years.  The more and more I train with Ember, the more and more I see my mentor instead of my daughter.  I think something’s wrong with me.  Ember is gone, and I need to be there for my daughter now.”

            “So the same issue has been persisting in your mind you say?  Did you try any of the suggestions that I put before you?”

            “I have been.  Even the most recent suggestion of giving Ember different weapons from the ones that my mentor used, but that just made me feel all the more guilty and torn-up on the inside.  What’s wrong with me?”

            “Perhaps you are realizing that you have some unfinished business with your mentor?” Imperia said placing her fingers on her temple.  “Or perhaps, unfinished business with her killers?”

            “I killed Adam myself years ago” Nathan said burying his face in his hands.  “I’ve avenged her.  I need to move on and be there for my family.”  
            “And who’s to say that your family will always be there for you if you discover a new purpose in your life?”

            “How do you mean?”

            “I’ve been reading the news recently.  Apparently, the Order isn’t completely gone yet.  So perhaps you’re feeling the pressure to avenge your fallen mentor.  Perhaps that is why you are seeing your mentor more and more in your daughter.  Perhaps your destiny is to finally finish the long fight and truly avenge Aequo.  But who’s to say your family will understand or believe in you?  Who’s to say that they won’t turn against you while you try to accomplish your true purpose?”

            “They’re my family.  They’ll stand by me no matter what.”

            “I hope for your sake, you are right Nathan.”

 

 

 

**Two Years Later**

**The Wastelands of Vacuo**

            The Order soldiers continued to fire as Nathan rushed forward, and they couldn’t land a single hit on him.  Nathan continued to deflect attacks left and right, all the way until he reached the commanding officer.  The officer tried to hide in his tent, but Nathan quickly dispatched of the guards, entered the officer’s tent, grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him into the air.

            “Where are your superiors?” Nathan asked with a growling voice.

            “We aren’t doing anything wrong!” the officer yelled at the top of his lungs.  “We’ve been busy trying to help stabilize this region of the world!”

            “And I should take the word of a soldier who serves the Order?  The same Order who took the life of my master in Aequo?”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “Wrong answer!” Nathan yelled as he smashed the officer into the ground.  The officer didn’t have any aura to protect himself, so he took the full brunt of the attack.  As he hit the ground, he coughed up a bit of blood.  Nathan raised him back up and prepared for another attack.

            “Now I’m going to ask you one more time” Nathan said tightening his grip on the officer’s neck.  “Where are your superiors?”

            “Nathan!” a new voice cut in.  Nathan turned to see Jacob standing there having just entered the tent.  “Release him at once!”  Nathan turned to face Jacob, but still held the officer in his grip.

            “I am trying to get answers here Jacob” Nathan said with an angry scowl.  “This creep knows something and I intend to find out what.”

            “What do you think we’ve been doing for the last few years?” Jacob said pinching his forehead.  “Heck, we’ve been staking this guy out for the last few weeks, just hoping that he would make a slip and give us more information about the remaining stragglers.  But you decided to jump in all guns-a-blazing and try to force out answers that you know he’ll never tell you.”

            “There’s nothing to tell!” the officer squealed from Nathan’s grip.  “There’s nothing to tell!  We’re just trying to help….”

            “Quiet!” Nathan yelled throwing the officer off to the side.  “I’m surprised to see you like this Jacob” Nathan said as he walked towards him.  “I know my wife is hesitant about my mission, but you, being from Aequo like myself, I would have figured you would understand the reasons that I am doing this.”

            “I would if there was something that needed to still be done.  But you are deluding yourself.  The Order is all but gone.  They’re nothing more than a few splinter cells grasping at straws trying to find any scrap of power that is still lying around.  Face it, your crusade is a hollow one.  Just an excuse to keep on fighting.”

            “What do you know?” Nathan yelled as he pushed Jacob back a step.  “You weren’t even there!  When our home fell, you were already off doing goodness knows what with your family while I had to watch everybody I know and love die right before my very eyes!”

            “And I don’t deny that you have had some trials in your life.  I don’t deny that you know what hurt is.  But the fact is, if you continue to go down this path of blind revenge, you will not only be trapped in its maw for the rest of your life, but you will lose everybody you have ever loved in the process of going down this road.”

            “I thought you were different Jacob” Nathan said walking past him out of the tent.  “I had hoped that out of everybody who has betrayed me to this point, you would be one of the few who actually understood what needs to be done.  After all, didn’t the Order destroy the lives of your parents?  And what about Brooklyn?  She can’t be too happy about what the Order did to her and her family.  Especially her mother.”

            “There is a lot of pain when it comes to my family’s history,” Brooklyn interjected walking into the tent.  “But it’s also in the past now.  We need to move forward.  And from what I’ve heard, you need to focus way more on being there for your family than trying to fight a war that’s been over for years.”

            “You’re all the same!” Nathan yelled as he stormed out.  “Why does nobody truly understand that this needs to happen?”  As he stormed off, Jacob and Brooklyn stood there looking over Nathan’s handiwork.

            “At least he’s taking out the bad guys, right?” Brooklyn said looking over everything.

            “Maybe,” Jacob said as he looked over some miscellaneous papers in the tent.  “But if he keeps going like this, he might actually be branded a vigilante in the eyes of the law.  Plus, if this is what’s he’s doing now to defenseless men, I’m afraid of what will happen if he continues to go down this path.”

 

 

 

            “Yeah Katie, they turned their back on me as well” Nathan said talking on his Scroll.  “Everything was going great, I was just about to finally get some answers but then they stepped in and stopped me.  I hoped they would at least understand what needs to be done and stand by me.  But it seems that they are just as focused with trying to keep me from doing what needs to be done like everybody else!  Why does nobody stand by me?  Don’t they recognize that this is a real threat!  I feel like everybody I know is slowly turning against me.  I don’t know how much longer I can keep going.  What if I lose all the people I care about most?”  
            “Nathan, let me tell you something” Imperia said through her Scroll.  “If people are trying to tear you down, it is only because they were beneath you to begin with.  You are the only one who truly realizes this growing threat, and if those who you considered your friends are trying to stop you from accomplishing your true goal, then they were never your friends to begin with.  Never let the world tear you down from the path that you know is right.  Remain true to who you were always meant to be.  I would suggest surrounding yourself with people who truly agree with you, not people who tear you down.  I have some connections with Huntsmen and Huntresses that have connections to Aequo and the Violet Troupe who want to avenge the fallen.  Perhaps you could get them to form a group to take down your enemies.”

            “Thanks Katie” Nathan said with a sigh.  “Maybe one day people will recognize what I am doing and how important this mission is.”

            “For your sake I hope so as well Nathan, but don’t be surprised if you face more adversity as you go along.”

 

 

 

**Four Years Later**

**Beacon Academy**

**Professor Ozpin’s Office**

            Ozpin sat as his desk, his arms crossed with Beanie and Christy flanking him on both sides.  As the elevator doors opened, Nathan stepped out and entered the office with a smirk on his face.

            “After all these years, I finally get invited to your office again Ozpin.  What are you and the four kingdoms offering me and the Sons of Aequo in terms of support for fighting the Order?”

            “I had heard stories about the things you’ve done over the years Nathan, but I didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.  Your actions have forced us to take the steps necessary to reach where we are today.”

            “What are you talking about?  Aren’t we talking about the steps we are finally going to take down the Order once and for all?”  Beanie sighed and walked forward and placed a piece of paper on the desk before Nathan.

            “This isn’t about us joining your crusade against a few dying cells of a former terrorist group” Beanie said with an annoyed tone.  “This is about making sure that you don’t keep going down a path that results in you getting arrested for acts of violence and vigilantism against innocent towns and caravans.  If you keep this up, the world council is probably going to start seriously considering leveling charges against you.”

            “Excuse me, what?”  
            “We’re holding you accountable for your actions” Ozpin said placing a pen on the paper.  “While the world is willing to ignore the actions you and the Sons of Aequo have taken over the last few years, even the most stubborn of people who still stand by you will eventually turn against you given your actions.”

            “So you’re forcing me to stop doing what’s right just because a few people got hurt along the way?  The Order was probably going to do that to them anyways!  Or worse!  I’m trying to stop another war before it begins!”

            “The ends don’t justify the means Nathan” Christy yelled slamming her fist on the table.  “You may have a few victories against a dying organization here and there, but you leave far more destruction behind than you do hope and peace.  If this keeps up, regardless of the fact that you’re fighting a group that has been branded criminals, we will be forced to label you and the entire Sons of Aequo as enemies of the Kingdoms and put out warrants for your arrest.”

            “Seems like working as a teacher has made you all the more susceptible to Ozpin’s stupid rules and regulations.”

            “I’m not talking about rules and regulations Nathan!  I’m talking about the fact that you are hurting the people you swore to protect!”

            “I am protecting them!”

            “By destroying their homes?  Attacking their villages?  Hurting innocents?”  
            “A means to an end!  Besides, if they’ve been hiding Order soldiers and sympathizers in their own homes, then they deserve to be destroyed!”

            “You do not get to be the judge, jury, and executioner of their lives and their actions!” Ozpin yelled rising up and pointing aggressively at Nathan.  “You are a Huntsman!  Your purpose is to protect the people not harm them!  Keep the four kingdoms and her people safe from harm!  Not bring it to their doorstep!  You need to clean up your act right now or we will have no choice but to bring you in to face justice!”  Nathan stood there, his fists clenched, trying to fight back tears.

            “I guess I was wrong” he said as he grabbed the pen and scribbled his name on the line.  “I thought that my family and friends would back me up on this path.  But I was wrong.  You all hate me.  You despise me!”

            “That’s not…” Christy tried to interject reaching a hand towards Nathan.

            “No!” Nathan yelled knocking Christy’s hand away.  He turned and stormed off to the elevator.  “Trouble is already on our doorstep, and you all are blind to the truth!  People who think like you are the exact reason why Aequo died all those years ago!  Because you didn’t destroy the problem the moment you realized that it was right there in front of you!  Don’t worry, I’ll “clean up my act” to appease you blind fools, but know that I will never stop until I destroy the enemy that plagues this world and threatens to destroy the people that live in it.”  With that, the elevator arrived, Nathan stepped in, and let the doors close, without once looking back.  Ozpin, Christy and Beanie sat there shocked and appalled by what they just witnessed.

            “What do we do now?”  Beanie asked as he ran his hands through his hair.

            “For now, we can’t do much of anything” Ozpin said with a sigh.  “If he follows the terms of the treaty he just signed, then we may be all right for a time.  But that’s not to say that perhaps sometime in the near future he could potentially turn down an even darker road.  And we have to be prepared if he ever does.”

            “Nathan wouldn’t do that” Christy said still shaken up by Nathan’s outburst.  “He’s going through a tough patch.  But I believe that he can pull out of it.”

 

 

 

 

            Nathan stepped into the airship that was waiting for him and it took off.  He looked out the window, watching as the sun set behind the city of Vale with Beacon being covered in the shadows of twilight.  He punched the door in anger, and slumped in his seat anticipating the long trip back to the camp of the Sons of Aequo.  But then, surprisingly, the airship touched down next to Imperia’s office and opened up its doors.  Nathan was surprised to see her step out not in her usual clothes, but rather a set of battle armor with a flowing cape.  She sat down and strapped herself in.  Nathan tilted his head in confusion.

            “What are you doing here Katie?  Better question, how did you know I was here?”

            “I have eyes and ears everywhere Nathan” Imperia said with a smile.  “And some of those ears just told me that you signed a very difficult treaty with Ozpin and his elitist politicians.”

            “What’s going on here?”  
            “Let me tell you a story Nathan.  A long time ago, this world was in a state of chaos.  Things were completely out of balance.  Ozpin was trying to establish himself as the most powerful force in the world.  He attempted to create a world where he could instill his will and his word over the entire world of Remnant.  In order to accomplish this goal, he created the Order of the Four Seasons.”

            “Excuse me, what?”

            “Oh yes, the Order was his creation.  A force to subjugate the entire world of Remnant, and in turn, rule over all of it as its king.”

            “That’s crazy.  He’s just a headmaster at one of the four schools.  There are check and balances in place.”

            “On the surface there are, but look deeper and you will find hidden truths within the system.  He used the Order to keep the world in line for generations.  Slaying those who would ever dare to speak out against him or his rule.  And in time, he created a system that would allow him to publicly showcase the defenders of his world order.  The Huntsmen Academies.  There he could brainwash students into following his own ideals and ambitions and train them on how to fight and keep those who would dare speak out against him in line.  And if anyone didn’t fall in line, well he would have the huntsmen destroy them with bogus criminal charges, or if he couldn’t find any criminal information about someone or something that stood in his way, he would send the Order out to destroy them.”

            “That…..it can’t….but…..”

            “And for a time, the Order blindly obeyed his commands for eons.  However, during the Great War, it became apparent that if the Order fought on the side of Ozpin, the secret of their existence would be out, and Ozpin would be held accountable for their actions.  And that would not do.  Not do at all.  So the Order continued to act under Ozpin’s guidance for many years.  However, one particular moment changed everything.  When the Order destroyed Aequo on Ozpin’s orders.”

            “What?”

            “That’s right.  Think about it, Aequo was separate from the Four Kingdoms, and as a result, fell outside of Ozpin’s control.  So he destroyed it so that it could be an example to the rest of the world of what happens when somebody disobeys him.  But that was the last straw for many members of the Order.  At this point, the Order broke up into three factions.  One still remained loyal to Ozpin.  Another, lead by the man you knew as Zenoma Mortem, disbanded into a splinter cell based around the ravings and delusions that Mortem had about absolute power and control over the planet.  But the third faction realized their errors, and wished for a better world.  One without Ozpin’s influence or control over it.  That is the world that I aspire to create.”

            “Katie….who are you?”

            “My name is Anima Imperia, the superior of the Order of the Four Seasons.  Like you, I was a child of Aequo.  I was brought into the Order at a young age, and thought it would help keep the world safe.  But when I found out what Ozpin did to our home, I knew that something had to be done.  I created this splinter cell in order to fight against the tyrannical rule of Ozpin.  Unfortunately, not many people took up my plight and didn’t see the bigger picture.  As a result, we have been in hiding for many years.  Trying to bide our time and wait for a chance to take down Ozpin’s tyrannical rule.  When Mortem attacked Ozpin, we knew that even if we helped him fight, he had no plans for a better world.  So we remained hidden.  And when I heard about you and your connection to our home, I knew that I had to bring you into the fold.  To bring about a true revolution and true peace.”

            “Why should I believe you?” Nathan said clenching his fists.  “You’re the Order!  How do I know you’re not playing me?”  Imperia smiled and pulled out a file labeled “Aequo” on the front.  Nathan grabbed the file, and looked it over.  His rage grew larger as he read what it said.

 

_Report: Town of Aequo_

_Status: Destroyed_

_Reason for Destruction: Unknown Group/Organization_

_Actions Taken to Prevent Destruction: None_

_Reasons for Actions Taken: Vetoed by World Council_

Nathan crumbled up the piece of paper and screamed, creating a new aura burn that he had never experience before.  A black and white burn that almost split the airship in half.  As tears poured down his face, Imperia placed her hand on his shoulder.

            “The truth is difficult to swallow, isn’t it?” she said with a soft voice.

            “Ozpin killed Ember” Nathan said angrily.  “He’s the reason that she’s gone.”

            “That’s right” Imperia said with a smile.  “And now that you know the truth, what will you do now?”  The airship touched down while Nathan thought about this.  As the doors opened, Nathan stepped out and watched as the sun faded and twilight turned to night.  He turned to see Imperia standing right there.  
            “All my life, I’ve been a slave to a fake world.  A fake family.  A family that is fine and content with serving a murderer.  They aren’t my true family.  I can see now that my only true family is the ones who support me and know the truth.  The people who know who is truly to blame for the pain that this world has suffered through. They are pretenders trying to be heroes.  They are my true enemy.  They aren’t Ember.  Ember was the only one who truly accepted me and cared for me.  And those liars and pretenders took her away from me.”

            “What if I told you there was a way that we could bring her back?”

            “Pardon me?”  
            “Hidden within the legends of the world of Remnant, there are artifacts called Relics.  There are four of them hidden within the four kingdoms.  Each of them individually contains unlimited power, but together, they could be brought together to bring the dead back to life.  We do need some time to find out where they are hidden, but that’s where you can play a role.  We need you to use the sons of Aequo to strike specific coordinates that Ozpin controls that could potentially lead us to where the relics are hidden.  Once we have confirmed where they are hidden, we will begin our plans to destroy the world that Ozpin has created, as well as bring back all those who have been wronged by the actions of Ozpin and his world order over the years.  What say you?” Imperia stretched out her hand, inviting Nathan to take it.  Nathan looked at her hand, and got down on one knee while taking her hand.

            “I swear allegiance to you, Lord Imperia.  I swear I will do whatever it takes in order to right the wrongs that Ozpin has wrought upon this world.”

            “Very good.  Now, I have left you some instructions in your tent.  Follow them to the letter.”

            “As you wish my lord.”  With that, Nathan turned and retreated into his tent, his anger overflowing.  Lord Imperia smiled, and pulled out a hidden piece of paper that was labeled the same as the one she had given Nathan moments ago.  It read as such:

 

_Actions Taken Following Incident: Professor Ozpin has elected to personally lead the mission to find those who destroyed Aequo.  The World Council has suggested he not do this in order to remain focused on running Beacon Academy.  Ozpin rebuked the World Council for their lack of action with the Aequo incident, spoke out in disgust that the World Council did not do its job._

Anima smiled, and burned the paper using fire dust within her staff.  She looked up at the black sky and chuckled,

            “He belongs to me now Ember.”

 

 

 

**Years Later**

**The Wastelands of Vacuo**

**The Day of Reckoning**

            As the Sons of Aequo dropped into the base, Nathan and Natalie both took point trying to survey their situation.

            “Looks clear” Natalie said as she relaxed a little bit.  
            “Don’t get cocky Natls” Nathan said with a smirk.  “Anything could happen from this moment forward.”  With that, Nathan and Natalie both moved forward together.  The Sons of Aequo split off into different areas of the base, leaving Nathan and Natlaie as the only two left in their group.

            “I don’t like this” Natalie said with a shiver as they entered a larger room.  “It almost feels like they were expecting us.”

            “We have been expecting you child” Lord Imperia’s voice came booming through speakers.  Suddenly, a large number of lights poured into the room, revealing it to be a large arena.  Several Order soldiers surrounded the ring with their guns trained on Nathan and Natalie.  Natalie looked around and saw a new figure standing there in battle armor.

            “Katie?!” Natalie yelled at the top of her lungs in horror and anger.  “You’re a part of the Order?”  
            “I’m more than just a part child” Imperia said with a smile.  “I’m the leader of the Order.  This was all a part of our plan to bring you in.”

            “If you think me and my brother are going to just stand back and let you kill us, you’ve got another thing coming traitor!” Natalie said as she got ready to attack.  Lord Imperia started laughing at this.

            “Child, you are the only one who is in any danger here.”  Natalie tilted her head in confusion by Imperia’s statement, but then when she looked back to where her brother was standing, she realized that he was now walking towards Imperia, without fear or hesitation.  Seconds later, he bowed down to Imperia, causing Natalie to scream.

            “NATHAN!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

            “I have seen the truth Natalie” Nathan said standing up.  “I have learned the truth about this world.  About who truly killed Ember.  I understand if you have a lot of questions.  But know this:  all your questions will be answered if you just simply offer your loyalty to the Order.”  
            “Have you gone insane?  The Order killed Ember!”

            “No, Ozpin killed Ember.”

            “That’s not true and you know it!”

            “You are just another pawn in Ozpin’s game sister.  But I can offer you a chance to make it right.”  With that, Nathan extended his hand.  “Join me sister, and we can save this world.  We can be reunited with our true family.  Our true mother, Ember.”

            “What did you do to him Katie?!”  Natalie yelled.

            “I did nothing but show him the truth” Imperia said with a smile.  “I can show you that same truth.  All I ask for is your loyalty.”  Natalie gritted her teeth, and spun her weapon around.

            “I’ve got a better idea” she said looking straight at Nathan.  “How about I knock some sense back into you and take you back home myself?!”

            “Very well” Nathan said with great disappointment.  “Take her.”  With that, the soldiers opened fire on Natalie.  She held her own easily enough.  She rushed forward and started taking them out.  But as she did so, Nathan rushed forward with his weapons and took up a battle stance against her.

            “Last chance sister.  I don’t want to hurt you.”

            “Too late for that!”  Natalie yelled with tears in her eyes.  She rushed forward and started fighting Nathan.  The two of them traded blows, but Nathan was far more composed than Natalie was.  He quickly disarmed her and knocked her aura levels down to zero.  He then proceeded to continue attacking despite the fact that she was defenseless and taking the full force of the damage.

            “Enough Lord Grover” Imperia said raising her hand.  “We still need her alive for what comes next.”

            “Very well” Nathan said as he walked away from the unconscious body of Natalie.  Two soldiers picked her up, and dragged her to Lord Imperia.

            “What do we do now my lord?” the soldiers asked.

            “Take her to Lord Memoriare” Imperia said with a smile.  “We may finally be able to get one last good use out of that old fossil before he finally croaks.”

            “As you wish my lord”  the soldiers said as they dragged her body across the way.  Lord Imperia walked over to where Nathan was now standing, looking out at the sprawling landscape before him.

            “Are you prepared for what comes next Lord Grover?”

            “Yes” Nathan said as he threw his weapons to the side.  “Nathan Grover represented a prisoner to the system that Ozpin created.  He must die, and I must be the one who kills him.”

            “And who will have the honor of killing him?”

            “I’ve been thinking long and hard about this.  And I kept thinking back to one certain piece.  The people who founded Aequo.  Master Ferish Rex and Master Falsus Tenebris.  Two people who knew that they needed to be free of Ozpin’s tyranny and were killed for it.  They created the place that me and Ember called home, and now they will create my true name.  Ferish Tenebris.”

            “Very well then, Lord Ferish Tenebris.  Now, go speak to Lord Sangui.  He will prepare the version of Nathan that you will strike down for the world to see.”

            “Yes my lord.”

 

 

 

**Present Day**

**Two Days After the Battle for the Relic of Life**

**The Order’s Flagship**

            Nathan looked on as Miles was kept suspended in a healing pod.  His body still broken and battered, the pod just giving him the bear minimum to stay alive.  He scowled and stared right at Miles’ face.

            “You only live because we can use you to make those fools who still serve Ozpin give up what little they have left that’s keeping us from accomplishing our goal.  And even then, I hope you live long enough to witness what I will bring to this world.  I hope that I get to see your face when you finally realize that I was right and that you and everybody else should have stood by me and my path instead of betraying me.  When you see that I have made this world a better place, when you see that you were wrong all along, then you will have my permission to finally die.


	33. Episode 3: Chapter 2: Reaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 of Episode 3 of War of Seasons.

Ember woke up with a start, sitting up in an instant.  She quickly started looking around trying to get her bearings, but her mind was in a million places at once.  She couldn’t tell where she was.  Suddenly, she felt several hands grabbing her and voices saying something but she was struggling to make it out.  She finally started getting her bearings back however, and began to realize where she was.  She was in a hospital room, and several nurses were trying to keep her from breaking out of the bed she was resting in.  Once the nurses realized she had calmed down, they released her and let her continue to regain her bearings.

            “What….” Ember said clasping her head in pain.  “What happened?  How….”  As she started to remember what had happened, her eyes widened, and she slumped back into the bed.  Tears rolled down her face as the nurses left her be.

 

 

 

            Ozpin, Yang, Gray, Terra and Arri were sitting out in the waiting room, waiting to hear back on Ember’s condition.  Then, one of the doctors finally emerged from the back, causing everybody to stand up.

            “She’s awake” the doctor said, “but is still recovering.  Her aura is dealing with most of her wounds, but it is taking its time.  Most likely due to an extreme emotional reaction.”

            “Didn’t Professor Curtiss use her Semblance to help heal Ember?” Gray asked with concern in his voice.  “Why didn’t that help?”

            “Ember sustained a great amount of injuries, and Professor Curtiss only had so much aura that she could spare to help keep Ember stable.  It’s up to Ember and her own power to reclaim what was lost.”

            “But she’s awake you said, correct?” Yang said walking towards the doctor.

            “That is correct ma’am.”

            “Good.  I’m going to go see my daughter.”

            “Right this way madam.”  As the doctor lead Yang to where Ember was staying, Gray joined them.  Terra initially started to follow them, but Arri grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

            “Let them be” she said somberly.  “They need time alone.  We should go see how Bovia is doing.”

            “Fair enough” Terra said with a sigh.  They then walked over to the service desk and asked where they could find their team leader.  Ozpin simply watched as they all went their separate ways, and sat back down, burying his face in his hands, tears rolling down his eyes.

 

 

 

            Jacob sat in his bed, reading over the reports from the battle at the mountain.  He kept reading over the last piece of the report, hoping that his eyes were playing a trick on him.  That it was some kind of mistake.  As he tried to convince himself of this, there was a knock on his door.

            “Come in” he said.  The door opened, and Brooklyn walked in along with Ty.  They sat down, none of them saying a word.

            “How you holding up?” Ty asked.

            “It’s definitely getting worse” Jacob said as he ran his hand across where the scar was.  “Best guess according to Ozpin is that the infection is about to reach my major organs.  At best, we have a week.  At worst, I have until tomorrow morning.”

            “Here’s hoping for the best” Brooklyn said with a weak smile.  They then returned to sitting in silence, with Jacob breaking the silence a few minutes later.

            “Is it true?” he asked, clenching his fist.  “Is it him?”

            “Looks that way” Ty said with a sigh as he slumped in his chair.  “Pretty much everybody on that airship said that it was him.”

            “It has to be some mistake.  We’ve seen that Lord Sangui guy create clones of people in the past.  Maybe this is some kind of advanced clone that he created that shares Nathan’s face, stealing his life and body while killing the real one.  Maybe it’s some kind of mind control.  Maybe….”

            “Maybe Miles was right” Brooklyn said hitting the armrest of her chair.  “Maybe the warning signs were all there, but we just didn’t want to believe it.”

            “But…..why?” Jacob said as tears rolled down his face.  “He would never do anything like this.  Such brutal tactics, such harsh actions.”

            “We saw it first hand in Vacuo Jacob.  He was always going down this path.  He was becoming what we are fighting now.  We just didn’t see it before.  We didn’t want to see it.”

            “That doesn’t make it seem any less confusing” Ty said running his hand through his hair.  “The Order is directly responsible for the destruction of his home and the murder of his mentor.  Why would he turn to their side?”  
            “Maybe somebody got in his head and feed him some lies and half-truths?”  Brooklyn said cracking her knuckles.  “Or maybe they used that old Lord Memoriare guy?  He had a Semblance related to memories.  Maybe they re-wrote his memories of what happened?”

            “Possible.  But if that were the case, why would they take Nathan and let Natalie go?”

            “It doesn’t matter how” Jacob said as he continued to go over the report.  “What matters now is what we are going to do next and how we are going to bring him back.”

            “He blew up a mountain to keep Miles from escaping and stabbed you with an ancient relic that is literally killing you as we speak” Brooklyn said growing more and more upset.  “I think bringing him back is a bit out of the question at this point.”

            “He’s still our friend!”  
            “Then why did he stab you without any hesitation?  Doesn’t sound like somebody who still sees us as his friend in my opinion!”  They all fell silent once again, not sure how to respond.  Nobody really did anything to break the silence. They just continued to sit there, not sure how to respond to what they had just learned.

 

 

 

            Aurora was sitting on top of Beacon tower, looking out over the campus.  Some tears rolled down her face.  The wind continued to flow through her hair.  As she sat there, she heard a noise behind her.  She turned around to see Blake leaping up to where she was sitting.  Aurora dried her tears and looked back out at the view.  Blake didn’t say a word, and sat down next to her daughter.

            “You know this is the first place your father took me after we first officially started dating?” Blake said with a soft smile.

            “He told me” Aurora said, still not looking at her mother.  “When I was ten, he brought me here and told me all about it.  He told me lots of stories about what he did up here with you and everybody else.”

            “Like what?”

            “Like how everybody came up here for ice cream instead of the dance during his first year, how you two have had picnics up here from time to time, how he and the rest of his team would do study sessions up here, just about everything major.”

            “I’m surprised you remember so much for it having been so long ago now.”

            “It’s all I’ve been able to think about.  Every little detail that dad said to me.  From fighting tips to random tidbits about life and just odds and ends.”

            “Any in particular that you’re thinking back to?”

            “I keep thinking back to his advice that he gave me about friends.  How important it is to always be there for your friends no matter what.  And how important family is.  He constantly talked about the fact that he didn’t have a family to help him during his teenage years.

            “Yeah.  When I first introduced your father to your grandparents, they weren’t super thrilled about me dating him.”

            “Really?  The way grandpa acted around him it seemed like he was always a part of the family.”  
            “Well, he did have to warm up to the idea of me dating a human first.  Your grandfather and most humans don’t exactly have a great track record.  But, your father was one of the first to really surprise him.  And from there, I believe your father found something that he had long since forgotten.  When you were first born, I remember one night when you were sleeping in your little crib back on Menagerie, I had woken up for some reason.  You weren’t crying, just the opposite.  For a change, you were sound asleep.”

            “Was I that bad as a baby?”

            “I honestly can’t think of a single parent who doesn’t have stories about their baby keeping them up at night in the early years.”  They both chuckled as Blake continued on.  “I saw your father standing next to your crib, and he had a soft smile on his face.  I will never forget what he said to you that night:

 

_I have seen and carried so much pain for one lifetime that I would not wish what I have experience upon my worst enemy.  And compared to others that I know, I’m one of the lucky ones.  For a time, I thought that the best path to walk would be the path where I walk alone.  Away from all others so that they would not have to share in my pain.  But your mother found me and knew that path would do nothing but cause more pain.  And she showed me a better path.  One that has lead me to so many amazing people and friendships that will last a lifetime.  And most recently, it has lead me to you, my child.  I may stumble and struggle from time to time, but I hope that I can instill in you what is most important in life.  To always be there for your friends, to help carry their burdens, and most importantly, stand by your family.  Never give in to fear and anger.  Never turn your back on what is important.  And I know, that one day you will surpass me._

            Aurora wiped away a few tears as Blake finished recounting her father’s words.

            “Dad could be really sappy at times, couldn’t he?  I mean, I was a baby.  How was I supposed to remember that?”

            “Your father was a strange person” Blake said wiping a few of her own tears as well.  “But he loved you more than anything.  I know that if he was faced with what he had to do back there a million times over, he wouldn’t change a thing so long as you were safe.”  They both smiled, and hugged each other tightly as tears rolled down their faces.

 

 

 

            Ember sat there in the bed, looking at the cast that bound her broken arm.  Yang and Gray were sitting there, not sure how to respond.  The machines chirped and beeped on, not missing a beat.  Still nobody said a word.  Gray then walked over to Ember and placed his hand on the cast.

            “Does it hurt?” he asked running his hand along the mold.

            “It does a bit” Ember said raising it up as best she could.  “Professor Curtiss did as much heavy lifting as possible to help, but this is going to take a while to heal I think.  Even with the healing properties, this isn’t as simple as a little scratch.”

            “Your aura should still be doing a lot of the hard work” Yang said as she walked over as well.  “More often than not, an Aura can still help heal substantial wounds overtime.  More often than not, I’ve seen people with injuries like this walk out of here the very next day.  But you don’t seem like you’re going to be combat ready for months.  What’s wrong?”  
            “Are you going to make me say it mom?”  They all fell silent once again.  Everybody not wanting to talk about what they had witnessed back at the mountain.  However, Ember couldn’t hold it back any longer as tears started to run down her face.

            “It’s all my fault” she said as tears dripped down onto her cast.

            “Never say that” Yang said as she grabbed her daughter’s shoulders as she struggled to keep tears back as well.  “None of this is your fault.  You didn’t even know.  If nothing else, it’s my fault.  If I had just stepped up and had been a better wife….”

            “Don’t do this mom” Gray said grabbing Yang’s hand.  “Don’t do this to yourself.  We can toss blame around all we want.  We can say we should have done this or that.  Heck, I feel like I could have done more as his son to try and help him.  But all we can do now is look forward.”

            “Gray’s right” Yang said wiping away her tears.  “We know your father is alive.  All we have to do is bring him home.  If we can just beat the Order, it might snap him out of whatever’s controlling or manipulating him, and we can all be together again!”

            “How can you be sure of that?” Ember said, staring at the sheets.  “Look what he did to me.  Look what he did to Aurora’s dad!  How can you be sure he’s still in there, and hasn’t been replaced by somebody else?”  Yang and Gray both looked at Ember, who still kept her gaze on the sheets of her own bed.  “Dad may have died the day that Ferish Tenebris slashed his body in two on the world stage.”

            “I refuse to believe that” Yang said clenching her fist.  “Your father is strong.  He’s just been consumed by some other entity.  We have to believe in your father.  We have to believe that he can come home.”

            “Chin up sis” Gray said with some tears in his eyes.  “We’ll all be back together before we know it.  We just have to believe in dad.”  Gray and Yang embraced Ember, who while returning the hug, still felt a sense of despair in the pit of her stomach.

 

 

 

            Lord Tenebris stepped up to the command deck, and watched as all the Order’s airships began to take off and head to their designated coordinates.

            “Are we prepared?” She asked with an evil smile on her face.

            “The airships are running, the troops are prepared, and the priority is prepped” Lord Sangui said over the communicator.

            “Lord Tenebris, are you prepared on your end?”

            “I am my lord.  Once we are in range, I will activate the signal and we will have complete control.”

            “Excellent.  Engate the Final Gambit.”  With that, the airships fully powered up, and took off in their respective directions, ready to do as they were instruct


	34. Episode 3: Chapter 3: March

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 of Episode 3 of War of Seasons

Ozpin stepped into his office where everybody was waiting.  Natalie, Evan, Christy, Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha and Beanie were all present.  Ironwood, Weiss and Sun were all there via hologram projectors.

            “Where’s everybody else?” Weiss asked as she looked around.

            “The Xiao Longs are with Ember as she recovers” Ozpin said as he took a seat at his desk.  “I couldn’t reach Blake or her daughter, Brooklyn and Ty are with Jacob, Terra and Arri are with Bovia, and the members of Team GASH are not necessary for this conversation.”

            “Fair enough” Sun said with a sigh.  “So what have you got for us?”

            “What happened out there Oz?” Ironwood asked.  “Everybody here seems completely distraught.”  Ozpin and everybody else who was in Beacon fell silent, nobody wanting to speak up fully.  Finally, Ozpin broke the silence.

            “During the battle, we lost the Relic of Life to the Order.  Miles was lost to a cave-in while fighting the Order.  And we have also learned, that the mysterious masked figure that serves the Order, is in fact Nathan Grover.”  The room returned to silence for a brief moment before Weiss screamed out,

            “WHAT?!”

            “How is that possible?” Ironwood exclaimed.  “We saw him die!”

            “Why would he serve the Order out of all groups?” Sun exclaimed.  “It makes no sense!”

            “We don’t have all the details yet” Ozpin continued.  “But given some of the evidence we have received over the course of the last few months, it stands to reason that this is indeed the true Nathan, and he is standing against us.”

            “So not only did we lose the Relic,” Ironwood said fuming, “but we now have a traitor to deal with as well?!”

            “We have to deal with this one thing at a time” Ruby said stepping forward.  “We still have two of the four Relics.  That means that the Order will be coming to us.  If we prepare we can….”

            “How well can we prepare?” Weiss said with an annoyed tone.  “Did you forget how easily they tore apart Mistral?”

            “We weren’t expecting them then” Christy said folding her arms.  “This time we are prepared for the Order to attack.  If we rally our forces together here at Beacon….”

            “Then the other four kingdoms are exposed as well” Pyrrha said cutting Christy off.  “It’s the same issue we ran into back when this all started.  If we put all of our resources in one place, the others are left defenseless and vulnerable.  And if we sit around with our defenses in each of our respective kingdoms, we are considerably underprepared for when the Order does decide to attack.”

            “So I say we take the fight to them” Evan said speaking up.  “We had that new spy drone that Jacob mentioned.  Did anybody manage to activate it before the Order got the jump on us?”

            “Maybe?” Jaune said scratching his head.  “Nobody confirmed that they managed to activate it from the beginning.  If they did, we need to confirm that with the team.”

            “I’ll get on that” Ironwood said pinching his forehead.  “We can remotely access that information from the airship.  But we are still stepping around the important issue.  And what I want to know, is why did Natalie keep this from us for so long?!”  
            “Excuse me?” Natalie said in an angry voice.  “I just found out about this myself!”

            “You were the last one to see him before the war began!  The Order let you go while they publicly executed Nathan to the world!  And yet he’s still alive!  How do you explain that simple factor?”

            “I’m not sure!  One minute I’m getting ready to help Nathan storm the Order’s base, the next I’m in the middle of the desert, fighting for my life, with no memory of what happened!”

            “Calm down James” Ozpin said raising his hand.  “We’ve come across individuals who serve the Order who can alter and remove memories.  This was our original theory back when this first started.  I don’t see any reason why it would lose any merit now.”

            “It doesn’t make sense though” Beanie said scratching his head.  “If they wanted to send a message, and if Nathan was on the side of the Order but Natalie isn’t, why would they just let her go?”

            “Family ties perhaps?” Weiss pondered.  “Despite everything that’s happened, Nathan always had a solid foundation with his family.”

            “Ember has a broken arm that would disagree with you” Ruby said with a sigh.

            “Maybe he thinks she’ll join him later on?” Christy pondered.

            “I’m sitting right here guys” Natalie said struggling to keep from turning invisible.  Everybody fell silent, not sure how to respond.

            “Regardless,” Ozpin said standing up, “we should really be making preparations for the Order’s next move.  They hold the two most powerful of the Relics.  But, we still have the Relic of Connection.  If we can find out where they’re hiding, we can use that to scale a massive assault.  Catch them by complete surprise.”

            “I’ll get on that” Ironwood said pulling up the information on his Scroll.  As the data came through, Ironwood’s face began to grow more and more distraught.”

            “What’s the matter General?” Weiss asked.

            “Well, the tracker seems to be working, and managed to find itself latched onto the main flagship of the Order.  But something’s wrong.  According to the locator, it’s heading straight here.”

            “What?” everybody jumped up in shock and surprise when Ironwood said this.

            “Why are they attacking us so quickly?!” Jaune yelled running his hands through his hair.  “We just had a big battle!”

            “We need to prepare!” Pyrrha snapped.  “General, you and your men should be fairly close to Beacon now, correct?”

            “Yes, we haven’t gotten very far from when we left.  We may be low on supplies and dealing with a great amount of traitors in the brig, but we can be there to help in any way we can.”

            “I’ll mobilize the forces here as well” Weiss said pulling out her Scroll.  “We won’t get there quickly, but hopefully we’ll get there in time.”

            “That’s all we need” Ozpin said standing up.  “I’ll put the word out to let our allies know that the Order is coming.”

            “Too late” Christy said looking out the window.  Everybody who was physically at Beacon looked out the window to see the Order’s flagship with several other attack ships flying over the city of Vale.

            “Find who you can” Ozpin said grabbing his cane.  “My magic might be able to slow them down.”

            “Uh, guys?” Sun said over his hologram.

            “This is hardly the time or place Mr. Wukong” Ironwood said as he continued to go through his Scroll.

            “I know, it’s just that the Order’s here in Vacuo too.”

            “What?”

            “But why….” Weiss was cut off as she looked off into the distance.  “The Order’s in Atlas.”

            “I just got a text from some of my professors back at Haven” Pyrrha said growing pale.  “Mistral is under attack as well.”

            “General,” Weiss said with a wave of her arm, “how many Atlesian Knights do you have in the four kingdoms right now?”

            “Enough to form a small army for each kingdom, but they won’t be enough to stop the attack.”

            “They shall do for now” Pyrrha said readying her weapon.  “All we have to do is buy time before innocents are hurt.”

            “Give the order” Ozpin said looking directly at Ironwood.  The general nodded his head and sent out a command on his Scroll.

 

 

 

            Lord Imperia watched from the command deck as several police officers, local militia, and several Atlesian Knights formed up along the main street preparing for battle.  She smiled and looked back to see Nathan standing there prepared for battle.  However, this time, his mask was gone.

            “You do not wish to go into battle with your helmet, Lord Tenebris?” she asked.

            “They know who I am now” Nathan replied with a clenched fist.  “Besides, we are in the final stages now.  And I have nothing to hide.  I will show the world that this is the true me.  Besides, nothing else matters other than my goal.  I will not stop until I bring my true family, Ember, back.  And if they don’t support me, then they will see the truth.  Besides, it seems poetic that a former slave of Ozpin’s tyranny is now leading the charge against his oppression and evil.  I wish to see the terror on his face when I finally face him.”

            “Very well Lord Tenebris, do you have what is needed then?”

            “Yes my lord.”  With that, Nathan pulled out his medal from the Battle of Vytal and handed it to Imperia. She took it, and placed it into a central computer console.  A program then sparked to life as soon as the medal was inserted, and a voice came online.

            “MEDAL RECOGNIZED.  USER RECOGNIZED.  NATHAN GROVER, MEMBER 4 OF TEAM NEMN.  ACCESS GRANTED.”  The computer then pulled up several files and programs linked to one big network.  Imperia smiled, and pulled up a secondary program that was already running on the Order’s computer.  She pressed a few buttons, and the program then started copying itself into the program that Nathan’s medal opened up.  From there, where the original program was white and covered with the symbol of the four kingdoms, the new program caused it to turn red, replacing the old symbol with the symbol of the Order.  Then, Imperia opened a program called “ANDROID PROTOCOL”, and pressed a few buttons.

 

 

 

            Ironwood was tapping away on his Scroll, sending out more and more commands, when suddenly, his screen turned red.

            “What the….” Ironwood exclaimed in surprise, “What’s happening?”

            “Can anybody access their Scrolls?” Ozpin asked as he tried to deal with the red screen on his Scroll as well.

            “I can still access communication,” Ruby said as she flipped through all her screens,  “but I can’t access the critical files.  I can’t get into defensive protocols, I can’t access security protocols, I can’t access Atlesian Tech files, I can’t access anything.  Not even my Vytal Medal is letting me override anything.”

            “Oh no….” Ozpin said as his eyes widened.  “We never removed or revoked Nathan’s Vytal Medal Priorities.”

            “How could you forget something so major Ozpin?!” Ironwood yelled.  “Even when we thought he was dead, that should have been the first thing to deal with before this all started!”

            “The Order hit the ground running, and we never had a chance to catch our breath early on.  And once we did, it must have slipped my mind.”

            “So what does this mean?” Christy asked growing more and more concerned.

            “It means that Nathan used his Medal privileges to access the computer, and has overridden all of our access to the important key features that is necessary to defending our kingdom.  Such as emergency control override of the Atlesian Knights and Paladins.”

            “And since Nathan still had access….”

            “That means he has given the Order the key to ensuring that our emergency defenses are theirs to control.”

            “And we’ve already deployed the knights into the field, right next to the innocent bystanders.” Ironwood said.  Everybody remained in shock, not sure how to react.

 

 

 

            The carnage was something that had not been seen in many years.  The news stations were still up and running, so everybody around the world could see what was happening.  Everywhere, from Vale to Atlas, the soldiers that were built to protect the people of Remnant, now were turning on those same people.  Soldiers and local police did what they could to try and stave off the attack, even local Huntsmen and Huntresses took up arms to face off against the growing threat.  But while the Atlesian Knights were easy to dispatch, it became a challenge to defeat them while also protecting the civilians caught in the crossfire.  Everything was chaos.  Those at the hospital watched on from the news coverage, others like Blake and Aurora could see everything happening from where they were at the top of Beacon tower.  Before anybody had a chance to truly and properly react, Ozpin flew out of his office and towards the enemy airship, his cane in hand.  As he approached the airship, he stared down the bridge of the ship.  Neither side moved for a split second before Ozpin took his cane, held it out, and let it go, causing it to fall to the ground.  As soon as this happened, the Atlesian Knights stopped firing on civilians, but they still corralled all that they could into the streets to hold hostage, as did several Order soldiers who descended upon the city with great speed and swiftness.  Around the world, the other kingdoms followed in Ozpin’s footsteps, surrendering to the Order to stop any more bloodshed.  Finally, Lord Imperia descended onto the streets with Nathan on her right and Lord Sangui on her left.  The two of them marched from the main street towards Beacon with an army of soldiers marching behind them.  The flames and carnage everywhere did not deter nor slow them, and no one made any attempt to try and stop them.  As they approached the cliffs beside the lake that separated Beacon from Vale, Imperia took her staff, and raised up enough water to cover the distance between the two entities, then froze it solid, creating a bridge for them to march across.  They finally reached Beacon and the central courtyard, where Ozpin, and everybody else was waiting.  Some students were hiding in their dorms, others were trying to see if they could get the jump on the Order, but Ozpin waved them away, not wishing to cause any more bloodshed.  Imperia approached Ozpin, a sick smile on her face.

            “My, how the mighty have fallen” she said pointing her staff right at Ozpin.

            “What do you want?” Ozpin asked trying to keep his composure.

            “A rather broad question professor.  But for the sake of convenience, I will tell you what I want in the here and now.  Give me the last two relics.”

            “Is that it?”

            “Not quite.  You will accompany us to our final destination.”

            “Why?”

            “That’s for me to know, and you to find out.”

            “And if I refuse?”

            “Come now Ozpin, that answer is obvious.  If you do come with me and your little children back there don’t attempt to stop us, I can promise that I won’t order the machines to kill every last person in all four kingdoms.”  Ozpin looked out at the burning city of Vale, then nodded his head.  He waved at Beanie, who already had the two relics prepared and in a case to be transported with.  He handed the case to Ozpin, who in turn handed the case to Imperia.  She smiled, and turned to leave.  During this entire exchange, everybody behind Ozpin wasn’t looking at that exchange, but were busy starting at Nathan, now in full plain view of everybody, glaring at each and every one of them with contempt and hatred.  As Imperia walked away with Ozpin in tow, Nathan stepped up in her stead and faced them all.

            “You are all slaves of a system that favors one man over your fellow brothers and sisters!” Nathan yelled towards his old friends and family.  “Wake up!  Ozpin isn’t creating peace!  He is creating a mockery of human achievement and decency!  He is creating a world that makes him king and you his slaves!  We in the Order are actually changing the world!  We are creating a world where you never have to lose those who you truly care about again!  We are creating a world where there is no true death!  There is no betrayal!  There is only support for one another!  No backstabbers or liars!  Just a world with one true family!  A world where we can support one another and not bring each other down!  If you are truly my family, if you are truly my friends, then you will stop with this charade of Ozpin’s, and join me.”  Nathan extended his hand, for people to join.  Everybody stood there in silence.  Some staring at him in shock, some in fear, and some in anger.  Natalie, clenching her fist, walked forward and faced Nathan.  Nathan started to smile as she approached him.

            “I knew you would come around in time sister.  Like me, you were trained by our true mother, Ember.  You and I are a part of a greater….” But before Nathan could finish, Natalie smacked him across the face.  The Order’s soldiers trained all their weapons on Natalie at that moment, ready to fire.  Natalie didn’t make any other moves after that, just letting the tears roll down her face.

            “Ember would be disgusted by what you have become” Natalie said choking through the tears.  “And so would mom.”

            “I don’t care what our birth mother thinks” Nathan said wiping his chin after the slap.  “She never supported us like Ember did.  She never loved us truly.  If she did, she would have supported us in our endeavors.”

            “Just because you didn’t always get what you wanted didn’t make her a bad mother Nathan!  Ember always urged you to listen to her!  She always…”  
            “Shut your mouth!” Nathan yelled as he slapped Natalie back.  This hit caused Natalie to fall to the ground in some considerable pain, including some bleeding from her mouth.  Arri and Hera rushed over to help her get up, while Natalie wiped her chin.

            “You didn’t love her like I loved her!” Nathan yelled as Natalie retreated back to the group.  “You never did!  You’re as fake as the rest of them!  I look forward to seeing how you react to when I create a better world and you realize I was right all along!  I look forward to seeing you grovel before me and my new world, begging for a place in it, only to be denied because you refused to accept the truth!”  Nathan turned to leave, as did all the other Order soldiers.  There was a silence between all of them, nobody was sure what to say.  As they started to reach the ice bridge however, Ember let out a scream that echoed throughout the entire kingdom of Vale, and some say still echoes in the halls of time;

            “WHY?!”  Nathan stopped, and turned to look at his daughter.  She was on her knees, tears falling down her face, every ounce of her being was wracked with pain.  Some from her broken arm, but most of it from the pain of seeing her father in this state.  Nathan glared at Ember, and simply replied,

            “I don’t expect an imposter like yourself to understand the true nature of what I am trying to accomplish.  You bear the name of someone who was true family to me.  For a time, I thought that would be enough.  But I have seen the truth.  You are not my family.  If you don’t truly support me, then I want nothing more to do with you.”  With that, Nathan walked away, leaving everybody completely distraught.  Ember started slamming her non-broken hand into the ground repeatedly, screaming as Nathan and the rest of the Order flew off into the night sky.


	35. Episode 3: Chapter 4: Belly of the Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 of Episode 3 of War of Seasons

Miles felt like he was floating in a dark abyss, surrounded by shadows trying to scratch and tear him to pieces.  He tried to fight them off, but curled up into a fetal position.  As the claws grew closer, a loud laugh started to grow.  Louder, and louder still, until Miles looked up and saw Nathan’s face peering out from the cracked mask of Lord Tenebris, his laughter drowning out all other senses.

 

 

 

            Miles’ eyes shot open, as he woke up from his nightmare.  At first he didn’t feel anything, but then a sharp pain coursed through his entire body.  There wasn’t any part of his body that wasn’t feeling pain.  Trying to push past the pain, he tried to regain his bearings.  He realized that he was suspended in a medical tank, floating in the healing gel, but only to keep himself barely functioning and not to heal his wounds.  He tried to see out of the containment pod, but struggled to see if there were any guards or anything of that nature.  Deciding it was worth the risk, he conjured up what little aura he had available to activate his Semblance, and push the gel outwards, causing the glass to crack and break open.  Miles fell out of the chamber, several warning noises came from the medical machines, but there weren’t any alarms going off, at least that were audible.  He struggled to get up, and make his way towards the door, limping and clutching at his side, trying to fight off the pain.  All he had for clothing was a pair of boxer shorts and an undershirt.  He knew he would stand out in an instant.  As he opened the door into the hallway, he saw that he was on an airship, and it was floating over a city.  As he limped his way towards the window, he saw that the airship was flying over Vale, with Beacon off in the distance.  Looking down on the streets below, he saw the soldiers of the Order simply marching through the city, no one stopping them whatsoever.  He wanted to find out what was going on, but he knew that things weren’t going to remain in his favor for long, and if the majority of the Order’s forces were on the ground, that meant he had a chance to get some answers and some medical supplies.  He limped his way back into the room that was holding him, hoping it would contain some medical supplies.  As he looked around the now distraught room, he found a simple first aid kit and some basic bandages.  He grabbed those, and quickly bandaged his more major wounds as well as grabbed whatever painkillers he could.  As soon as he was bandaged up, he started making his way through the halls of the airship, doing his best to try and remain hidden from the few security guards that remained on board.  Miles debated where he should go from here, if he should try to escape the ship, if he should try to sabotage the Order, or if he should find more answers.  His mind was still racing regarding the last thing that he remembered.  He kept thinking back to that moment at the mountain.  Seeing and realizing Nathan is Ferish Tenebris, and staying behind to face him while the mountain collapsed around him.  Miles kept thinking back to Nathan’s face, and the lack of remorse or hesitation that he had in his eyes.  Miles shook his head and continued to make his way through the ship.  Suddenly, two guards appeared out of a side door that was almost hidden on the side of the wall, almost right on top of Miles.  He quickly slid up against the wall, hoping the guards didn’t see him.  The two guards moved on past him, and Miles slipped into the open door that the guards left open.  The door shut itself automatically, leaving Miles in a strange hallway.  Looking around, Miles saw that this was a short hallway leading to a stairwell leading deeper into the airship.  He looked down the staircase, and decided that it would be best for him to continue moving forward.  As he made his way down the staircase, he was able to see what he was approaching.  It looked like any normal brig, but it seemed a bit more barren than most brigs in airships.  There were plenty of cells and holding areas, but no prisoners or anything like that.  There were some cells holding some files and other boxes, some cells holding crates of dust, and another holding the Relic of Death and Life.  Miles thought about trying to get the Relic of Life to heal himself, but he saw that the cell was much more heavily encrypted by Order security than the others.  He decided not to chance it, and continued forward.  He reached a cell holding a lot of loose items and broken weapons from previous battles.  He saw his swords and his coat sitting in there, not locked in any box or anything of that nature.  He looked over the cell, made sure there weren’t any security cameras or sensors that he was missing, and grabbed his weapons and put his coat on.  There were a few tears in the coat, but he was simply glad to have something other than a shirt and shorts.  He also found his Scroll, which had very little power left.  As he exited the cell, he noticed that there was a giant security wall sealed by even more security measures compared to even what the Relic were being protected with.  Miles walked up and stared at the door, not sure what to make of it.

            “Truly impressive” a new voice cut in, “what one will do to try and protect their secrets.”  Miles looked around to try and find where the voice was coming from.  He then saw a single cell filled with medical equipment and supplies, was a single man hooked up to all of them.  There were so many machines flowing into him, it almost seemed as if removing one single tube or vial would cause him to keel over an die.

            “Who are you?” Miles asked as he approached the cell.

            “You don’t recognize me?” the voice mocked.  “I’ve been near ever since your journey began.  I was the one who helped ensure that there were only a few who survived the attack on Aequo.”  Miles’ eyes widened, and he pulled out his black sword.

            “Memoriare” Miles said with a cold voice.  “How are you still alive?”

            “Mostly sheer willpower” Memoriare said with a chuckle.  “But also by the grace of the new superior.  Or rather, temporary superior.”

            “Planning a coup of some kind?”

            “Nothing of the sort.  She is simply keeping the seat warm for when the true superior returns.”

            “So, that’s why the Order took Mortem’s body in the dark realm.  You plan on resurrecting him.”

            “Very good young one.  You pick up on things faster than most.  Too bad your former friend is too blind to see what is happening.”

            “He’s only blind because you probably messed up his memories!” Miles yelled hitting the bars with his sword.  “What did you do to Nathan?  What memories did you alter to make him think that the Order is his family?”  Memoriare laughed as Miles threatened him.

            “I did nothing” Memoriare said with a cough.  “I’ve been strapped to these machines for years.  Practically nothing more than a ghost living in this wretched hole waiting to die.  I have had little interaction with the temporary superior outside of her explaining her plan to me.”

            “Stop avoiding the question!  What did you do to Nathan?!”

            “I already answered you.  I did nothing.  The Order did nothing.  It was all Imperia.  She was the one who found your susceptible friend, she was the one who knew of his potential, and she was the one who guided him to his true destiny!”

            “And his destiny is to help you resurrect the man that killed his home?!”  
            “His destiny is to live and die as a tool of the Order!” Memoriare said as he coughed up a bit of blood.  “Imperia has your stupid friend eating out of the palm of her hand!  He thinks that the Order is going to use the Relics to bring back everyone from Aequo and all the people that he wants to resurrect!  He has no idea of our true intentions!”

            “So, you’re saying that Nathan is being lied to?  Why tell me all of this?”

            “Because I want to see you try to find that last spark of hope.  That idea that you can still save him, only for it to be snuffed out in the end.  You and the rest of your stupid friends act irrationally when somebody you care about is on the line instead of focusing on the mission before you.  Besides, it won’t matter once Lord Mortem has returned.  Soon, everything will be back in its proper place, and we will take our rightful place as masters of this world!  That fool Nathan may be merely a tool in our greater plan, but, he is a tool that has turned against you.  Make no mistake, he may not agree with the path of the Order once that becomes clear to him, but he has also come to a conclusion that you are his enemies!  Even if you told him the truth, he won’t believe you!  Heck, he could see the truth with his own two eyes, and he would more than likely twist it to make himself the hero, and leave you all as the villains in his story!”

            “I have no time to listen to the ramblings of a stupid old man” Miles said as he turned to head back up the staircase.  Memoriare coughed and laughed some more.

            “It’s ironic!  He wants to avenge the death of his mentor by finding her killer, but now he serves the one who took her life!”  Miles didn’t say another word, he simply made his way back up the staircase, trying to stay conscious, fighting back against the pain and the stress that was building in his brain.  Once he got back to the top of the stairwell, he could feel the rumblings of the engines as the airship began its startup cycle.  Miles quickly dragged himself towards a nearby air vent, and hid within the vents to avoid being spotted.  From there, he pulled out his Scroll, and activated his emergency homing beacon.  As the airship began to move forward, he clutched his wounds even tighter as tears rolled down his eyes.

            “He’s still in there….he has to be.”


End file.
